Hyderabad: YouTuber Aditya Prabhakar has been fined Rs 50 lakh by a local court in Sangareddy for damaging PURE Energy Limited’s (PURE EV) reputation through a malicious campaign.
Aditya runs a YouTube channel by the name of ‘EV travelxp‘, covering new Electric Vehicle launches, latest EV news, range tests, EV vlogs and price comparisons.
It has 164k subscribers.
The YouTuber was found guilty of manipulating brand identity by mockingly referring to the firm as “POOR EV” and causing “irreparable commercial harm” to the firm, the NewsMeter reported.
The court also noted that Aditya’s content misled the public about the quality of the company’s electric vehicles.
The order was passed without hearing from the defendant, as he failed to show up even after being served a notice.
The court has asked Aditya to pay Rs 73,383 to cover PURE EV’s legal expenses and asked him to immediately remove all defamatory videos from digital platforms.
Aditya is also required to publish formal apologies in national newspapers and across his social media channels.
