Shark Tank India has consistently captivated viewers with its innovative pitches and pioneering business ideas, providing invaluable insights from the Sharks. However, participants from Seasons 2 and 3 are now facing a significant challenge: being locked out of their social media and advertising accounts by Meta. This action follows copyright claims by Sony Pictures Entertainment India (SPNI), according to a media report.
Entrepreneurs like Roshaan Mishra of BrandsDaddy and Vivek Krishna of Sukham have expressed their frustration, alleging that their appeals for help from Shark Tank judges, including Namita Thapar and Anupam Mittal, have gone unanswered.
Roshaan Mishra, founder of the Mumbai-based BrandsDaddy and a participant of the season, claimed he contacted Namita Thapar last month to inform her about his issue. Mishra believes Namita may have approached Sony, but the channel did not respond. He also alleged that when he tried creating another account, Meta banned it.
Vivek Krishna, founder of the Delhi-based Ayurvedic men’s wellness brand Sukham, mentioned that Shark Anupam Mittal, known for Shaadi.com, had previously supported Indian startups during app suspensions on the Google Play Store. Krishna hopes Anupam and other sharks will now advocate for them.
The affected brands argue that even if it’s a copyright issue, the punishment they’re facing is excessive. They emphasize the negative impact on their businesses, facing account bans and the removal of Shark Tank content from their channels.
Several brands claimed that despite their repeated appeals to Sony and Meta, they received no assistance, especially after all Shark Tank content was removed from their channels. Some startups have taken legal action, serving legal notices to both Sony and Meta.
According to an e4m report, despite repeated requests, Namita Thapar (ED, Emcure), Anupam Mittal (Founder of Shaadi.com), Deepinder Goyal (CEO of Zomato), Aman Gupta (Co-founder & CMO of Boat), and Vineeta Singh (SUGAR) did not respond to requests for their perspective on the matter.
Only Ritesh Agarwal’s family office responded to the queries. It stated, “One of the founders from the companies we’ve invested in reached out to us about copyright concerns. We promptly connected them with Sony, and their account was restored. We encourage all founders to comply with legal standards and respect intellectual property rights.”
Earlier reports suggested that Fit and Flex, an FMCG startup, sent a legal notice to Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) for deactivating their social media accounts.