The Supreme Court on Thursday (April 17) set aside a Delhi High Court order for the removal of defamatory and false content related to news agency ANI on Wikipedia. The apex court said that the high court order was very broadly worded, which couldn’t be implemented.
Setting aside the injunction order of the high court, the bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that the order was broadly worded and didn’t specify which statements are to be removed.
“Such a broad interim relief is not capable of being specifically implemented. The reason is that there is no clarity on the issue on who will decide whether the contents are false, misleading and defamatory,” the bench stated.
However, the court allowed ANI to make a fresh application before the single judge of the High Court. The agency has to seek grant of injunction in respect of specific contents in its Wikipedia page. The court told ANI’s counsel, “Pray for fresh interim relief. Confine yourself to specific portions that they have put on their website.”
Wikimedia Foundation had filed a special leave petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s order to take down defamatory content about ANI Media Private Limited from its Wikipedia page.
Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Akhil Sibal appeared for Wikipedia.
Notably, on 2nd April, the Delhi High Court directed Wikipedia to remove defamatory content on ANI. The single judge bench said that Wikipedia cannot hide behind intermediary status to escape liability for defamatory content published on its platform. On 8th April 2025, a Delhi HC division bench upheld the single judge direction.
