New Delhi: Popular photoblog website Humans of Bombay has been lately facing heavy backlash for suing a similar storytelling website ‘People of India’ at the Delhi High Court after accusing them of copyright infringement.
For the unaware, Humans of Bombay is a well-known website inspired by BrandonStanton’s Humans of New York that serves as a platform for the people residing in Metropolitan cities to share their inspiring tales with the public at large. The website, founded back in 2014 by TEDx speaker Karishma Mehta, enjoys a decent following on its social media profiles with over 1.4 million followers on Facebook and around 2.7 million on Instagram.
Recently, the website made headlines for all the wrong reasons when the founder of Humans of New York expressed his disappointment against the company’s decision to initiate a legal suit against another storytelling Portal “People of India.” Voicing his anger against the same, Brandon Stanton took to his Twitter (X) and criticized Karishma’s company for suing another portal for something they have been forgiven for.
He wrote “I have stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think Humans of Bombay shares impact stories, even if they have monetized far past anything I would feel comfortable doing on HONY. But you can’t be suing people for what I have forgiven you for.”
Here’s Brandon’s Tweet:
Brandon’s post went viral on the internet within a matter of hours and resulted in netizens bashing HOB and its founder for sewing ‘People of India’. Commenting on the same, one Twitter user wrote, “HoB is not an appropriation but actually an insult to your work. It’s embarrassing that it exists and this action of their founder to sue someone else for the same stuff they’re doing reeks of insecurity.”
Another said, “Their content went absolutely downhill the moment they started monetizing every brand offer they started getting. Soon it turned into one-sided stories. Unfollowed long back”
Their content went absolutely downhill the moment they started monetizing every brand offer they started getting.
Soon it turned into one sided stories. Unfollowed long back— Vignesh iyer (@iyervignesh) September 23, 2023
“You are a kind man. Brandon. Respect. ” A third user added.
You are a kind man. Brandon. Respect. 🙏
— Gee (@GayatriiM) September 23, 2023
Humans of Bombay is now all about money. The stories got lost in the business!
— Anu (@Escapeplace__) September 23, 2023
I always thought HoB was an extension of HoNY. Oh my. This is very disturbing news.
— Ganesh Chakravarthi (@craynonymous) September 24, 2023
@humansofbombay – you guys are a joke in Mumbai to New York now😂
— Abheet Nigam | Fin&Biz Writer (@MaginAbheet) September 24, 2023
Their dictionary has opposite meaning of these two words – ‘Integrity’ and ‘Grateful’
— Gov (@dreamgov) September 24, 2023
HOB’s Founder’s ‘Privilege’
Karishma Mehta, the founder of Humans Of Bombay, who claims to be privileged and self made in the same breath, is a product of savarna orchestrated caste networking. Those who don’t mention her caste location while ridiculing her and HOB , are just beating around the bush. pic.twitter.com/jNBzWGSX0p
— Sachin Zore (@Sachinzore301) September 23, 2023
Previously, HOB’s 32-year-old founder Karishma Mehta also found herself the target of trolls after a video showing her giving objectionable remarks on “privilege” displeased the netizens. In the controversial video, Karishma was heard saying “I am Privileged in a sense as I belong to a family who was able to send me abroad (UK) for studies, that they invested a lot in my education”. In the same video, the actress was also seen recalling the time when she took a Rs 1 Lakh Loan to establish Humans of Bombay back in 2014.
However, Her opinion and views on “privilege’ didn’t go so well with the netizens who later schooled the writer for the same.
