‘Delete all negative posts,' says Ola to customer who blamed firm for data privacy violation

Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ola Electric has responded to a legal notice sent by a Guwahati customer named Balwant Singh. The notice was sent by Singh whose son had met with an accident on Ola’s e-scooter in March 2022.

Ola had then shared the telemetry data on social media to clear itself of any possible accusations. However, the complainant was against this move and claimed that this was a violation of privacy according to the company’s agreement.

Following his concern, the father had then asked the electric vehicle manufacturer to take down the post that has unveiled the telemetry data.

Also, READ: 2nd Global Virtual Summit on Covid: PM Modi pitches for reforms in WHO, streamlining vaccine approval process

In response to this, the company has sent a counter-notice, asking Singh to ‘cease and desist from making any defamatory posts’ and delete all ‘negative’ social media posts that he has already shared against Ola Electric.

The company has directed Singh to remove all posts within 24 hours.

The clash started in March when Balwant Singh tweeted that his son had suffered a major accident because of the faulty regenerative braking system in the Ola S1 Pro scooter.

According to him, the scooter accelerated instead of slowing down on deceleration. He further stated that Ola’s representatives had already taken the vehicle to gather data for investigation.

Countering this statement, Ola shared telemetry data on various social media platforms to show that the vehicle was being driven rashly and that there was nothing wrong with it.

Also, READ: Alert! Wearing earphones turns fatal for teenager in Bihar

The statement shared by Ola read, “We did a thorough investigation of the accident and the data clearly shows that the ride was over-speeding throughout the night, and he braked in panic, thereby losing control of the vehicle. There is nothing wrong with the vehicle.”

Singh was against this move and said that the company hadn’t taken care of his data privacy rights. He then sent a notice to Ola which stated, “You are hereby notified to take down the telemetry data of my scooter from your social media accounts across the internet at the earliest failure to which I will be bound to take legal action against your company.”

The incident led to spread of various negative comments across all social media platforms.