New Delhi: Justice Navin Chawla’s words rang through the Delhi High Court in September. “If you don’t like India, please don’t work in India.”
The judge was weighing in on the ANI vs Wikimedia Foundation legal battle. The defamation case has since turned into not just a survival battle for Wikipedia in India but has thrown up questions about the future of free access to information into a whirlwind. “We will ask the government to block Wikipedia in India,” came the next retort.
This isn’t just about ANI’s allegation that Wikipedia, a non-profit organisation, allows negative and defamatory edits, but the Rs 2 crore lawsuit strikes at the heart of a promised information democracy where knowledge was collectively but freely constructed. It was a heady era back then. But in the fraught times of fake news, misinformation and propaganda, that promise has been contested not just in India but also in France, Germany and the US.
The case in the Delhi High Court has touched on all the hot-button issues. The open-access editing function has been called “dangerous”, the court has said that the system of maintaining the anonymity of users and administrators “will have to go”, and Wikimedia has even been issued a contempt notice.