After the Delhi High Court reportedly criticised Wikipedia and threatened to ban it in India, the Wikimedia Foundation, the organisation behind Wikipedia, has clarified its position. Wikipedia has said in a statement that it is committed to India and will take steps to ensure that it does not face the possibility of a ban.

“We are committed to ensuring that people in India continue to have the right to share and access free and trusted knowledge in an open and safe online environment,” the company said in an official statement shared with India Today Tech.

The statement came a day after a Delhi High Court bench allegedly threatened to ban Wikipedia in India. The bench was hearing a case filed by a news agency which alleged that its Wikipedia page was inaccurate and defamatory.

Wikipedia has reportedly argued that the content of its pages is determined by volunteers and that the content is edited, approved, and written by these volunteers based on information available through publicly accessible sources.

However, the Delhi High Court bench told Wikipedia that if it does not cooperate with the court, it will ask the Indian government to take action. The bench said that this action could also include banning Wikipedia in India.

Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that maintains Wikipedia, has said that the case against it was improperly pursued even though it was acting in good faith. Wikimedia Foundation claims that before the hearing on September 5, the company had informed the petitioners that they would seek guidance from the court. “Prior to the (September 5) hearing, we had informed the petitioners in good faith that we would approach the Hon’ble Court for appropriate directions. It is surprising that the petitioners decided to initiate contempt proceedings even before the Foundation had fully apprised the Hon’ble Court,” the company said in a statement.

Wikipedia states that articles, such as the one that has led to the defamation case, are based on publicly available sources. It states that personal opinions or original research are not allowed in its articles. “Volunteers (Wikipedians) compile and share information on notable topics, citing reliable sources such as newspaper articles and peer-reviewed journals, in accordance with editorial policies and guidelines. Only encyclopedic content is allowed on Wikipedia. Personal experiences, opinions, or original research are not allowed,” the company claims.

The court case against Wikipedia is important because its outcome could open a Pandora’s box. Around the world, Wikipedia has often faced the ire of governments, politicians, organizations, celebrities and notables over information provided in their respective Wikipedia pages. Given that the wiki content is produced by volunteers – although in almost all cases based on publicly available sources that its volunteers consider reliable – this has often caused problems for the Wikimedia Foundation.

Commenting on the case, Mishi Chaudhary, founder and lawyer at digital rights group SFLC, tweeted on September 5, “This is a bad case with no explanation of how this works. Wikipedia is a nonprofit, not a business. Requiring details of the community of volunteers who make this invaluable source possible for a defamation suit is going to be a huge problem. It’s a bad precedent.”