Govt summons Wikipedia execs after Arshdeep Singh's page entry changed

Wikipedia's page entry of India cricket team bowler Arshdeep Singh was changed to reflect an association with Khalistan

The IT ministry summoned executives of Wikipedia in India on Monday after cricketer Arshdeep Singh's page information was changed to reflect an association with Khalistan, The Economic Times reported.

Singh's Wikipedia page entry on Sunday was changed after India's loss to Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup. In Sunday's match, Singh dropped a catch of Pakistan batter Asif Ali, who went on to apply the finishing touches for Pakistan in their successful chase of 182 in a Super Four match.

The 23-year-old fast bowler was heavily criticised on Twitter following his drop. The change in Singh's Wikipedia page entry, which was subsequently restored, read that the left-arm pacer had been selected to play for the ‘Khalistani' national cricket team. An unregistered user had replaced the word India with Khalistani.

A high-level panel of the ministry, led by IT secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma, will meet Wikipedia executives today to question them on the checks and balances of edits being allowed on the website, and how modifications such as these could be allowed, reported ET.

“It is a serious issue. The edits have been traced back to servers in neighbouring countries and can cause serious damage to the internal peace and national safety of India. We will ask them (Wikipedia executives) how such an edit could be allowed to stay on for quite some time,” a senior government official told the newspaper.

While Wikipedia, which serves as a collaborative database, allows people to make changes in the articles and content entries, the website says that peers from all over the world review the edit.