Philippines loses court case for citing Wikipedia

According to the report, the court said the government had made an “incredible … if not a haphazard attempt” to cite an expert authority based on “unreliable information. This is certainly unacceptable evidence, nothing short of a mere allegation totally unsupported by authority.”

“The Republic, with all the resources and manpower at its disposal, has all the means with which to counter the expert testimony offered by” the opposing party, the court reportedly said in its decision.

The government was appealing a previous decision that had annulled a 19-year marriage on the basis of psychological incapacity. The solicitor general represents the state in annulment cases, making sure annulments are allowed only when there are valid grounds.

The wife in the annulled marriage reportedly noted in her court brief that the expert opinion cited by the government was taken from “an Internet website commonly known as Wikipedia.”

She noted that Wikipedia “makes no guarantee of validity” and that as an “online open-content collaborative encyclopedia,” the site allows anyone to edit its content to create a “common source of human knowledge.”