India: Delhi High Court issued notice against Wikimedia Foundation with a warning of contempt for failure to disclose identities of editors who had allegedly made defamatory comments against ANI Media on Wikipedia (CS(OS) No. 524/2024)

On 5 September 2024, the Delhi High Court warned the Wikimedia Foundation that it could face contempt proceedings for failing to comply with an earlier order issued on 20 August 2024 to disclose the identities of editors who had contributed disputed content to ANI Media Pvt. Ltd.'s Wikipedia page. The court further cautioned that non-compliance could result in Wikipedia being blocked in India. This escalation came amid ongoing litigation initiated by ANI on 9 July 2024, which accused the platform of hosting defamatory material and limiting corrective editorial access. The warning underscored the growing pressure on platform intermediaries to comply with domestic content regulations, even as Wikimedia maintained that its decentralised editing model and user privacy protections were integral to its operations.