A Bengaluru civil court has passed a temporary injunction restraining various tech content creators and influencers from posting defamatory content about Motorola mobile phones on social media platforms [Motorola Mobility India Pvt Ltd v. X Corp & Ors.]

Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Vedamoorthy BS also restrained social media intermediaries from publishing, sharing, hosting, streaming or providing access to negative and abusive content about Motorola phones.

In the order passed on April 8, the Court also directed that such material be taken down, disabled, de-indexed and made non-searchable on websites, social media platforms and search engines till the next hearing on June 2.

Motorola Mobility India moved the Court against X Corp (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Google LLC (for YouTube), Facebook, Meta Platforms, Threads and multiple YouTube channels including content creators who allegedly posted such material.

The company claimed that hundreds of videos, posts, reels and tweets were uploaded across social media platforms and news portals, accusing its phones of exploding and being unsafe, and urging people not to buy Motorola devices. 

According to the plaint, many of these videos had millions of views and used sensational and abusive language against the brand.

The company said these posts were false, unverified and malicious and appeared to be part of a coordinated campaign aimed at damaging its reputation, sales and market perception in India. It argued that as a global brand, its goodwill and consumer trust are being seriously damaged by such acts.

The company argued that the continued presence of these posts was misleading consumers and causing long-term damage to its brand and market share. 

The Court after considering the submissions proceeded to grant an injunction in favour of Motorola.

Advocate Bharath Gowda BS represented Motorola

[Read order]