Asia Cup 2022: Arshdeep Singh's Wikipedia page links him to Khalistani movement, India Govt slams website

New Delhi, Sep 5: A big controversy cropped up on Monday (September 5) when Wikipedia on the India cricketer Arshdeep Singh's page linked the pacer to the separatist Khalistani movement. Taking cognizance of the matter, the Indian government slammed Wikipedia for publishing false and demeaning information saying such incitement can't be permitted.

The 23-year-old left-arm Punjab pacer 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 (September 4).

The dropped catch proved to be one of the game-changing moments in the game where Indian bowlers were not up to their mark and Pakistan batters capitalised upon it.

Asia Cup 2022: Cricketers, Politicians Support Arshdeep Singh As Fake Twitter Accounts Brand Him 'Khalistani'

Pakistan needed 34 runs to win when Ravi Bishnoi came in to bowl the 18th over. Arshdeep Singh dropped a relatively easy catch of Ali on the third ball of the over, which led to a massive momentum shift.

Arshdeep, however, redeemed himself after that dropped catch when he clean bowled Asif Ali for 16 in the final over of the match. But the bowler didn't have enough runs to defend in the last over which cost the Men in Blue.

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 govt's 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.

The slanderous linking of him to the Khalistani movement was said to have been done by elements in Pakistan. Big social media firms have drawn flak in the past over hate speech, misinformation, and fake news circulating on their platforms.

The government had last year notified new IT rules to make digital intermediaries more accountable and responsible for content hosted on their platforms. The rules required social media companies to take down contentious content quicker, appoint grievance redressal officers and assist in investigations.

Significant social media intermediaries - those with more than 50 lakh users - have to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person and a resident grievance officer and all three officials will have to be residents in India.

The IT ministry, in June, circulated the draft rules that propose a panel to hear user appeals against inaction on complaints made, or against content-related decisions taken by grievance officers of social media platforms.

At present, "there is no appellate mechanism provided by intermediaries nor is there any credible self-regulatory mechanism in place", the ministry had said. Several cricketers and politicians have backed Arshdeep Singh saying anyone can make a mistake in a high-pressure game.

(With PTI inputs)