For over a decade, sockpuppets—some of them company employees—created ‘puffery’ around tycoon Gautam Adani, his family and the apples-to-airport group he helmed by adding non-neutral material and removing warnings from information on Wikipedia, the free internet-based encyclopedia has alleged. Wikipedia, in a February 20 ‘Disinformation Report’, referred to the “con” alleged by Hindenburg, to ask “Did he (Adani) and his employees also try to “con” Wikipedia readers with non-neutral PR versions of related Wikipedia articles?”

It went on to answer, “Almost certainly they did.” Wikipedia said the article or a write-up on Adani was started in 2007 in “a straightforward style” but by 2012 three editors, who were later blocked or banned as sockpuppets or undeclared paid editors, had edited the information on “the philanthropy section, made a few reverts, and removed a warning tax”. Similar instances were cited for information on family and the group. “Some created articles by unusual methods that avoided Wikipedia’s quality control systems,” it said.