Faculty Seminar | Disparagement vis-à-vis Social Media Influencers: Balancing Free Commercial Speech with Protecting Consumer Interest

In this week’s faculty seminar, Apoorv Chaudhary will present his paper titled ‘Disparagement vis-à-vis Social Media Influencers: Balancing Free Commercial Speech with Protecting Consumer Interest’.

Abstract

The ascent of social media influencers has posed new challenges to the brands, where a negative review has the potential to make or break businesses.The interface of the law on disparagement with the reviewers of social media has become a cause for scuffle. On one hand, brands are at risk of losses from false or misleading reviews. On the other hand, the reviewers are facing increasing threats from brands to remove their reviews. This paper attempts to explore this interface with respect to law in India, particularly with regard to freedom of speech and expression. The author argues that the treatment of critical reviews from Indian courts has not been uniform and requires a careful implementation by the courts to balance a mark’s reputation with free speech and consumer interests.