After ‘Khalistan’ added to cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s page, Wikipedia restricts edits on the article
The fast bowler’s page was edited with misinformation after he dropped a catch in an India-Pakistan match on Sunday.
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Wikipedia has restricted the rights to edit the page of Indian cricketer Arshdeep Singh a day after references to the separatist Khalistani movement were added to it, Reuters reported.
The wrongful edits were removed “within minutes” and editing access to the article has been restricted to “trusted users” to prevent vandalism on the page, a spokesperson for Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the online encyclopedia, said in a statement. I
ndia’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has also taken up the matter with Wikipedia, the statement added.
Singh, a 23-year old left-arm fast bowler, has been exposed to several hateful messages on social media for dropping a catch during the India-Pakistan cricket match in Dubai on Sunday. Pakistan defeated India by five wickets.
Wikipedia responds: says the wrongful edits on Arshdeep's page were "removed within minutes" by Wikipedia's volunteer community, and editing access to the article was restricted to trusted users. https://t.co/5aKOdiXU4c pic.twitter.com/lEiBT7STdY
— Munsif Vengattil (@MunsifV) September 5, 2022
Earlier on Monday, Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar said on Monday that such online activity violated the government’s expectations of safe and trusted information.
“No intermediary operating in India can permit this type of misinformation and deliberate efforts to incitement and #userharm,” the minister of state for electronics and information technology wrote in a tweet on Monday.
He also posted screenshots of edits made to the online encyclopedia page to add the misinformation that Singh was born in “Khalistan” and represented the separatist group’s cricket team.
No intermerdiary operatng in India can permit this type of misinformation n deliberate efforts to incitement n #userharm - violates our govts expectation of Safe & Trusted Internet #wikipedia @GoI_MeitY #SafeTrustedInternet pic.twitter.com/Qm6HdppM1k
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) September 5, 2022
Meanwhile, The Economic Times reported that the electronics and information technology ministry has summoned executives of Wikipedia to seek an explanation on how the references to Khalistan were added to Singh’s page. However, the ministry has not issued an official statement about any meeting with Wikipedia management.
#Breaking: IT ministry (@GoI_MeitY) summons #Wikipedia (@Wikipedia) executives in India, to meet them today to seek an explanation on how Indian cricket team bowler Arshdeep Singh's Wikipedia page entry was changed to reflect Khalistan association.
— Aashish Aryan (@cubscribe) September 5, 2022
Several cricketers, including former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, had extended their support to Singh.
“Stop criticising young Arshdeep Singh,” Harbhajan Singh wrote on Twitter. “No one drops the catch purposely...we are proud of our boys.”
Stop criticising young @arshdeepsinghh No one drop the catch purposely..we are proud of our 🇮🇳 boys .. Pakistan played better.. shame on such people who r putting our own guys down by saying cheap things on this platform bout arsh and team.. Arsh is GOLD🇮🇳
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) September 4, 2022
Arshdeep is a strong character. Stay that way boy. @arshdeepsinghh
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 4, 2022