A Kurkure ad on PepsiCo India’s website.
Screenshot by Marrian Zhou/CNET
PepsiCo got a court order in India to have social networks take down posts that say the company’s Kurkure corn puffs contain plastic.
PepsiCo obtained an interim order from the Delhi High Court to block these posts on Facebook , Twitter, Instagram and YouTube , reported Indian site Medianama. The defamation suit reportedly applies to years worth of posts on the social media platforms, including 3,412 Facebook links, 20,244 Facebook posts, 242 YouTube videos, six Instagram links and 562 tweets.
The court issued an order June 1 that granted PepsiCo’s petition to “take down, remove, or block/restrict access to the URLs/weblinks … [that] contain a video disparaging the product ‘KURKURE’.” Then a second order, issued Monday, said the interim order will stay till the next hearing, on Nov. 14.
Some users of the social networks said they’d received emails from the companies regarding their posts about Kurkure.
Okay guys, so in the wake of @PepsiCo Kurkure thing. I checked my email to see that I have received two emails regarding jokes about Kurkure. Am I in trouble? Should I do something about it? pic.twitter.com/e8IHs9YUoB
— @MumbaiPolice pls note (@savynivayak) July 26, 2018
PepsiCo didn’t respond to a request for comment, but it told Medianama that though Kurkure is a “100 percent safe vegetarian snack” made from rice, corn and other common kitchen ingredients, the rumors about plastic have “plagued the brand.” The company said its legal moves were designed to protect its brand equity.
Facebook, Twitter and Google didn’t respond to requests for comment on the court’s order.
