Wikipedia has come under renewed scrutiny in India after a defamation lawsuit filed by Asian News International (ANI) in 2024. The Delhi High Court warned that the platform could be banned in India if it fails to comply with national laws. This has reignited global debate over how Wikipedia operates and how reliable its information truly is.

Wikipedia, launched in 2001, is a free, open-source online encyclopedia managed by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation. It hosts over 60 million articles and receives more than 10 trillion monthly page views. Around 300,000 volunteers worldwide write and verify its content without pay, following strict editorial guidelines that require information to be based on reliable published sources. Disputed entries are reviewed by senior editors and marked accordingly.

While Wikipedia acknowledges that it should not be treated as a primary source, experts note that widely known topics tend to be more accurate due to frequent review. Critics have raised concerns about gender imbalance among contributors and ideological bias. The platform operates without ads, relying on user donations, and faces restrictions or bans in at least 13 countries, including China, Myanmar, and North Korea.