New Delhi: In the last few days, social media companies Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have deleted hundreds of posts alleging that Kurkure corn puff, a snack sold by American food and beverage maker PepsiCo Inc., contains plastic. Video streaming platform Youtube has also deleted hundreds of such videos. The move comes following an interim order by the Delhi high court directing the social media platforms to remove or block access to the website links and posts that contained such allegations. The Court order came on 1 June 2018, based on a civil suit filed by PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd earlier this year.
“Kurkure is an extremely loved brand and consumed by families across India. However, fake news suggesting that Kurkure has plastic in it has adversely effected brand’s reputation. Due to such fake and defamatory content circulating on the social media, PepsiCo India was constrained to move the Hon’ble Delhi High Court,” a PepsiCo spokesperson said in a statement. “This step has been taken to protect brand equity, a matter that we take very seriously at PepsiCo. We are working constantly with all the platforms, to collectively counter the issue of spread of fake and defamatory content, following all procedural obligations to ensure compliance with the court order,” added the spokesperson.
This is not the first time such things have made PepsiCo seek interventions from the legal authorities. In February, Delhi High Court had directed Facebook and Youtube to block weblinks of videos showing PepsiCo’s snack brand Lay’s in bad light with allegations that Lay’s chips would result in death of the consumer, Mint reported on 26 February.
Interestingly, PepsiCo is not the only company to face such allegations. Kolkata-based packaged goods maker ITC Ltd had in March sought intervention from multiple legal authorities after a series of videos were circulated across social media platforms, including instant messaging platform WhatsApp, alleging that ITC’s Aashirvaad Atta, packaged wheat flour, has plastic.