Indian Govt slams Wikipedia for publishing false info on Arshdeep Singh

Indian government on Monday slammed Wikipedia for publishing false information on cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s page that linked him to the separatist Khalistani movement, saying such incitement cannot be permitted.

Singh faced vitriolic attacks on social media by some users after he dropped a crucial catch in a thrilling Super 4 Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. After the missed catch, information on his Wikipedia page was changed to link him to the separatist Khalistani movement. Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to Twitter to slam such a move. “No intermediary operating in



India can permit this type of misinformation (a)n(d) deliberate efforts to incitement (a)n(d) user harm – violates our govts expectations of safe and trusted internet,” he said. It was also said the Ministry of Electronics and IT has summoned executives from Wikipedia to explain the false post but officials denied any such move.

According to the edit history of the cricketer’s Wikipedia page, an unregistered user replaced the words “India” with “Khalistan” at several places on the profile and his name was changed to “Major Arshdeep Singh Bajwa”. But the changes were reversed within 15 minutes by Wikipedia editors.