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

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)