I Investigated India’s Biggest Smartphone Controversy

I might get sued for this.But imagine you made a YouTube video about a phone.You get it out of the box, you test it, but you feel like something's off.So you tell your viewers, but then you receive a court order.You're legally forced to take your video down.You're banned from ever saying anything negative about that phone again.

And so is everyone else.And suddenly it all erupts into what can only be described as a war within the tech community.That'd be crazy, right?right?This is one of the most fascinating, alarming situations that I've ever seen on my 15 years making YouTube videos.And it's also currently a very real, active legal case, so the YouTubers involved are not allowed to comment.

But I will!I've got the products, I've got the receipts, I've consulted the experts and people at the very heart of the situation, and if anyone wants to sue me, I'd love to see them try.Quick context.India is the second biggest smartphone market on earth, with over 700 million users.But at least two thirds of the phones sold there, from brands like Xiaomi and Vivo and Oppo, are Chinese.Which has created this massive opportunity for someone to come in and make a phone in India.

Partly for the same reason that Brits love their Made in Britain logo and Americans like to buy American.It would help Indians to support the economy of the country they live in.But also compounded by the fact that India and China don't have the best relationship.Long story short, lots of border clashes and a lack of trust.So over the years, a bunch of companies have tried.You've had Carbon, you've had Micromax, you've had Lava, all leaning into this national pride, plastering their marketing campaigns with this promise of Made in India.

But they've all failed to capture any kind of meaningful market share.Because ultimately, while their products might be assembled in India, they're still designed in China.And if you're gonna buy a designed -in -China phone, then you might as well just buy it direct from a Chinese company like Shell.Xiaomi and get it even cheaper.Which sets the stage for July 2021.when a new brand called AI Plus launches with the pitch of delivering India's first fully sovereign smartphone.

Expertly engineered and meticulously built in India.

And they went one step further than the rest to say that it even...

Prioritises your privacy and secures, stores your data in India.

So any of your data that has to go online, they're saying will be securely stored in Google Cloud India regions.This built in India strategy is absolutely central to the entire case.So It's important to stress just how much they leaned into it.Like how it literally spells out on the boot screen of my AI Plus phone here, your data stays safe in India.Or how they said their phones are so secure that they are and I quote, certified for government, all amplified by the CEO firing shots at other companies for not holding themselves to the same standards.Referring to other Indian brands, he said, made in India means little if software and updates come from abroad.

And then referring to the abundance of Chinese phones, this foreign dominance raises critical concerns about data privacy.And if AI plus hadn't already made their stance extremely clear, then nothing summarizes it better than what I can only describe as their comic book strip of an advert.It starts with this poor Indian man who's woken up to find that someone's taken a large loan in his name, without his consent.

Oh, right.

Yeah, it's this Chinese guy.Thank god for fortune cookies with more nuance.But you get the point.So you might be wondering, who is this AI plus CEO?This Indian hero who's about to show the Chinese who's boss?Madhav Sheth.

a man with a very coloured history of making phones.He was a sales director for Oppo in India.He then co -founded and became CEO of Realme.He ran that companyfor five years, and by the time he left in 2023, it was the fourth biggest smartphone brand in the country.Then he went off to lead Honor in India, hopped over to Alcatel to do the same, until finally deciding to build his own phones with AI+.

So two things jump out to me.One, that with work experience like that, I can't think of a single person more qualified to start their own tech company.And second is, For someone who's seemingly so vehemently against China, he sure has spent a lot of his career working for Chinese companies.

Chinese nonsense.

Now, to be fair, gotta hand the mother of God his flowers.The prices of the products that he's launched, they seem really reasonable.Amongst other products, there were two phones.The Pulse, their 4G phone, starting at 4 ,499 rupees.And then the Nova, their 5G phone, starting at 7 ,499.Right now, That's equivalent to 47 and 79 US dollars.

So like, how wrong can this go?Well, the first crack appeared when YouTuber Gyan Therapy got his hands on the phone and posted a video.He highlighted that this supposedly brand new built -in India software, which the brand calls Next Quantum OS, does seem to look awfully similar to Realme's operating system, which is definitely not built in India.It doesn't prove anything, but it does make me wonder, if you were actually building a new Android skin from scratch for this brand new company you've started, why would you not make it look different to what's out there?Especially when what's out there is the company that you used to run and are now competing against.And then Guillaume Therapy found three apps on the phone, Clean Assistant, Phone Clone, and Mobile Butler.

Which, by the way, I also have on my phone.Clean Assistant, Phone Clone, and my mobile butler is called Phone Manager.Presumably because it's been updated since.These apps came pre -installed.You can't disable them or uninstall them.And he asks, how could they keep your phone clean?

in India if they are actually Chinese apps?Why would he say that?Well, because when you pop into the privacy policy of PhoneClone, who else but a China -based company, Sprocom Technologies, who's very clearly spelled out as the service provider.I screen grabbed the entire policy and made it public in case you fancy a very long read.But the point is, you don't have to scroll very far for it to pop up.Raise some eyebrows.

We may collect your personal information by1. Information you provide directly to us,2. Information we obtain automatically during your use of this application, and3. Information we obtain from... other sources.And then for the other two apps, there isn't a privacy policy, but we managed to extract the app files, ping them off to a very smart Android researcher who's chosen to remain anonymous, and this is what he said.All these three apps are built in China, for sure.

They just changed the package name to make it look like they are built from scratch as part of Next Quantum OS, followed by all the screenshots proving this fact.Now, does this mean that your data is going to be sold to the highest bidder and the Chinese triads are about to knock on your door and ransom you to get it back?Probably not.Most apps collect data.But the point is, can this app guarantee that not a shred of your data leaves India?Which is what's being promised in no uncertain terms here.

Well, that feels less certain.Now, I'm going to be confronting Mardav himself about these apps.But for now, what you need to know is that for saying what he said, Yarn Therapy received a legal notice from the AI Plus company, and his video has been geolocked, meaning that I can still watch it here in the UK, but if we VPN over to India, you can see that you straight up can't there.This is already pretty unheard of for a tech review, but this isn't the shocking part.I was curious about this whole Sprocon thing.I never heard of the company, but I also couldn't help but feel like they were part of the bigger picture here.

So I had a browse,and I don't think I've ever seen a load of nonsense quite like it.There's pages and pages of stuff like connect with mind, connect with mind again.I've never read a more generic sounding company profile.And their company culture, connect with mind.Well, of course.

And then their corporate mission is supposedly connected intelligent, intelligental.So what on earth could this China -based company that can't even spell intelligence have to do with our made -in -India smartphone that literally has intelligence in its name?I was about to quit, but then I stumbled into this page.Oh, Sprocom do make phones.And while this is not exactly this, it's pretty hard to ignore the similarities.How aligned the camera module and the camera positioning is.

How from the side and the bottom, these two feel like a mirror image.Not to mention how almost every spec, including the display, looks identical.So here's what you need to understand.There are two ways to get a tech product made.You can either ideate it, design it, and own all the rights to it yourself, like Apple, for example, who then just hands over the brief to a contract manufacturer to do the building for them, to Apple's exact spec.But the other option is to go to an ODM, or Original Design Manufacturer.

This is a company who builds the products, but has also done the designing, the ideation, and often owns the rights to their designs too.And so all you do as a customer is request slight variations, get your logo added to it, and brand it as own.And so Sprocom, according to an official business report, is a Chinese ODM.Which, you know, is not in itself unusual, but it does cast even more doubt on just how much of the imagining and building that AI plus is actually doing themselves.To give you an idea, within just half an hour of digging, I managed to find four other supposed clientsof this Sprocom company.

And all of their phones look remarkably similar to ones on Sprocom's site.So when you look at this, how much does it look like Sprocom's clients are really researching and developing themselves?And how much does it look like they're largely just taking what Sprocom gave them?And I've come to learn something else about Sprocon through a conversation with someone who's, let's just say, very high up and very involved in the Indian supply chain.

Basically, you have different tiers of ODMs.So up there, you have ODMs in the likes of Longchair.They work with brands like Oppo, Vivo, Samsung.Then you also have good ODMs.They work with brands like Nothing or Moto.And then you have low -tier ODMs.

And those ODMs are known for making very very cheap products.This includes ODMs like Sprocom.There is no R &D involved.The product exists.What you do is just you customize slightly the back of the phone so that It looks a bit different.They cut a lot of corners.

The way they make things very cost efficient is having a very cheap supply chain.They use a lot of like second -hand components.The biggest opportunity is when it comes to the memory chips.For reference, for 64 gigabyte memory, you will probably get around as low as $20 versus $60 if you are buying it new.

So people are buying a new product, but actually the memory chips inside are from used products.

Exactly.

Given that in India specifically, there are tons of phones in that lower price bracket, would you say that's probably the case with most of them?

No, that's the thing.If you look this year, whether it's like Oppo, Vivo, they haven't been launching any phones in that price point.Those players are the ones kind of working with the tier one ODMs I mentioned because they don't do this type of like more dirty work.

So my takeaway from this is there's actually two layers of dubiousness.On top of AI Plus's already debatable claims about how Indian their products are, according to this insider, by buying a phone sourced from Spain,you're also, ironically, getting a lower quality product than the Chinese companies that AI Plus is trying so hard to separate themselves from.But if everything we've seen so far has felt sus, then AI Plus' Wave 2 is where this situation just explodes.Because now we move into this year, 2026, where AI Plus launches their second set of products, one of them being the Pulse 2.That's actually the one I'm holding here.

And this time, clearly the YouTubers are ready, because one of them, TechWiser, drops a video titled This Indian phone is a marketing disaster.Now, this video got taken down completely.It's part of the evidence being used in the court case.I'm getting to that.But he accused the company of a few things.One of them being how it's just a bit strange that the CEO has gone on the record to brag about the lack of bloatware.

First and foremost, no bloatware.

The bloatware still exists.It existed on his phone.It exists on my phone.It's hidden from the app drawer.So you can only tell when you open up this game space hub.But this absolutely counts as bloatware by my definition.

It's preloaded, the games are spammy and ad -filled, many people will not want them.and yet they are still taking up storage space.Again, Mardav has his own defense for this, but we're getting to him.More concerningly than bloatware though, TechWise's other claim is that, you know the Chinese apps that were present on the first AI Plus phones that caused the entire scandal?Well, he said that all of those apps were actually still on the new phone.Two of them had now been hidden, but just by plugging into a laptop and entering a quick command, he could reveal them again.

And then he finished off this video by recapping all the companies that Mardav's worked at, explaining that each one has deserted customers in some way, and concludes that the biggest reason to not trust this phone, or trust this entire company, is the founder, Madhav Sheth.Five days after that, a second bombshell drops.This time from another channel, Tech Bar, and it goes even harder, because the founder,the AI Plus Pulse 2, one of the other new products launched was the Nova Flip.And Tech Bar says that this phone is exactly the same phone as the Chinese ZTE Nubia Flip 2.He says they have the same battery, processor, that the camera seems the same as the ZTE, and I can see why he'd say that.

He didn't actually have the phone in hand when shooting his video, But I do.And in fact, I can tell you this is a ZTE phone.I can see all sorts of apps and sensors with clearly labeled ZTE identifiers.And here's the thing, if anyone were to argue that maybe the links to China are fairly minor service level on the Pulse phones, I don't think that can be argued for the flip.The Compass app, ZTE.The AI engine, ZTE.

The fingerprint service, ZTE.And we should probably at this point just register the 20 to 30 and sometimes more permissions given to these services.Anyway, TechBar then goes on to say, if you think it took me a lot of effort to find this flip phone example, it's not like that.He says, look into any of their products and you'll find a Chinese copy.And credit where credit's due, I too found one in about three minutes of sleuthing.Their website has a download section here.

So that takes you to, I guess, the support page.Need help setting up your device?Well, screw you, because that button doesn't work.Good start.In fact, the one link on this page that actually does work is a link to the app for the kids watch that they sell.You click download, Le Fine Technology.

Le Fine Technology.That doesn't sound Indian.So let's search that up.Oh, would you look at that.Based in Shenzhen.And it's not just a software thing.

Yet again, the hardware on the Leefine website looks identical to the hardware that AI Plus is selling.So very likely, another ODM to add to the list.But then the most curious example that TechBar gives is the Wearbuds that AI Plus also launched.This watch that contains earphones inside.of it, which Mardav said at the launch event were also.

This is the design which we have designed in India, patented in India.

Tech Bar claims this product too is in fact clearly just this product made by a Chinese company, AI Power.What on earth is happening here?And this is super weird.If you go onto the official verified Instagram page of this Chinese AI Power company, they actually posted about the AI Plus launch event with the caption, Wearbirds watch, great cooperation with AI plus brand.If this product was designed entirely in India, why would a Chinese brand, and yes, I know they're a Chinese brand because I asked them and they told me, say great cooperation.And while we're at it, doesn't this AI power logo look amazing?

a little familiar.As a matter of fact, I've actually cut out the AI plus logo here and you can watch me live as I show you that you can place the AI from AI plus exactly on top of the AI in AI power.Does that strike you as two companies who have nothing to do with each other?How many Chinese partners can this one anti Chinese company have?14 days later, both of these videos disappeared from the internet.The Delhi High Court in India granted AI Plus an ex parte injunction against the YouTubers, which means that without hearing them first, TechWiser and TechBar were now restrained from publishing disparaging content about AI Plus or Madhav Chef.

And there's one more wrinkle.A third person was named.John Doe.This is the court's way of also saying unnamed future critic, which means it's the two YouTubers, but also anyone else that is banned from and could be charged for speaking against AI+.This clause has already led to legal action against at least 10 other YouTube videos.That is a drastic response.

So I decided it's time to call in the eagle.So could you clarify what exactly an ex parte case is?

Ex parte is where you are the only side going in front of the court.Only one side is presenting their case.And you can imagine in an adversarial system that relies on both parties being there, that if you're the only one in the court, it's a whole lot easier to present your case than it is that the other side is contradicting the things that you are saying.

Right.That makes sense.But then in what kinds of contexts are you expecting to see ex parte?

For example, a domestic violence restraining order.Often happen ex parte because there are presumably real safety risks if both parties were there.So that's an example of something where an ex parte procedure is used more often.

Yeah, that's what's confusing me.This isn't that at all.This is a tech review where the reviewers have been critical to the brand, but also the guy behind it.

In the context of seeking an order, preventing the disclosure of tech news or a tech news related thing, that would be basically unheard of.

He explained that ex parte, at least in the US, would require you to show irreparable harm and that if in this context any damages created could be solved by just paying someone money, i .e.financial loss, then that wouldn't count as irreparable.But that's the U .

S.I do know that the laws are very different between the United States in particular and India.In the United States, you basically cannot be held liable for defamation if what you're saying is true.The laws in India are much more plaintiff friendly and they are much stricter to the point where sometimes even saying something that is true can give rise to a defamation claim.

OK, got it.All right.Thank you very much.Appreciate it.So given that I'm not in India, I'm going to give you my opinion.which is allowed here.

I think that if you own a company and people are criticizing that company and you, then they're entitled to that.If you disagree with them, I don't think you should be able to go for an emergency gag order like this.That doesn't mean you sit in silence.I think you should just make your own video, explain why, and that message will find the audience that it needs to.In fact, you know what?That's exactly what Carl Pei does whenever people roast his nothing products.

And I rate him for that.Okay, I feel like we've established how the product isn't as Indian as we've been led to believe.How this CEO has gone to an unprecedented extreme when called out for it.But before we take this all to the big man himself, I've been trying to figure out, because this is very important when you're assessing how guilty someone is, does this company deserve our benefit of the doubt?Yeah, it's a no from me, chief.It's just interesting how on YouTube these phones were getting absolutely cooked, but on AI Plus's own website, every single phone seems to have a flawless five -star review.

And then you click into those reviews and you realize it's a five -star review no matter what people are saying.Some people are literally just filling out support forms seemingly with questions like, where I buy now, can you please guide me?Yeah, that's a glowing five -star review if I've ever seen one.And then you realize, oh wait, it doesn't even matter if they're actually saying it sucks.Like this comment here.It's a five star.

A lot of the reviews on Flipkart are just as organic.The screen quality is great and the camera performs well.The display looks great and the camera is reliable.The display is sharp and the camera is solid.It's almost as if some of these reviews are generated.But no, surely not.

Not from the company who has ended their official terms and conditions section with, let me know if you'd also like a downloadable version, a version for your Shopify website's policy page, or tailored clauses for international customers or B2B transactions.Oh.you guys starting to get the same picture that I am about this brand.Or how?Do you remember that borderline racist advert with the loan and the Chinese man?Does it feel just a little bit ironic that with an ad like that, this AI plus site also reads you while providing your personal information over the platform?

consent to us and other third parties like credit bureaus to contact you through SMS, instant messaging apps, call, and or email.And worse still, if we smack this same link into the Wayback Machine, it's used to specifically spell out personal loans.Whoops.I could keep going.A lot of the marketing material appears not entirely original.They've posted photos claiming to be taken on their phones that every photographer I have sent them to has confidently said is basically not possible.

But ultimately I decided we have enough questions now that we need to take them to the CEO himself.Now I have actually called Mardav once already, but what he said was so confusing.It felt like he was constantly changing his mind as he was speaking.So I've taken everything he said, I've distilled it down to the key things that I think really matter in this case, and now it's time to lay it all out in front of him, to really properly, in one go, confront him.Right, let's do this.You're getting the full BTS here.

Yesterday, I think, the AI Plus website went down.Did that have something to do with our conversation?Well, I noticed when the website was launched again, the review section was gone.I was happy to see that.So the website did suck, but at least he's taken the feedback and started actioning it pretty quickly between our first and second conversation.We were off to a good start.

economy and consumers first.They are not risk to the consumers.I'm talking about the economy, wherein the revenues and the technology transfer, the technology know -how from last 10 years, intentionally or non -intentionally has not been transferred to India.

Okay, but then this advert, it's implying very strongly that Chinese phone, not safe.AI+.This advert is made for a consumer, right?Yeah.

There were 300 Chinese apps which were banned in India.And it was an app which was basically for small loans or for fintech loans.And there were a lot of suicide cases around it.So if you're talking about a particular ad, I'm just an eight -months -old brand.I would have made a lot of mistakes and I admit to a lot of mistakes which I would have made.

So would you say this advert is an example of a mistake?

I would not say that that's a complete mistake.

You stand by the ad?Yeah, you stand by it.Yeah, okay So he says the ad is fine because it's based off a bunch of real Chinese apps that did cause people to lose money But still for more reasons than one I don't think this is the kind of messaging that anyone should be doubling down on moving past that though in our first interview We asked mother of about the three Chinese apps that the youtubers found on their phones were they real and he said yes they were and So you're saying that no one who buys one of these phones in India will get any of these Sprocom apps?But...I need to ask you that because I'm holding one of them bought in India and I have these apps.I feel like as soon as I revealed that I too was holding the phone, Madhav kind of pivoted.

holding it, that is what I have to check.I am again saying you, yes.I'm not saying no.This was probably the initial testing unit, not at all possible.

So specifically, in a really concise way, what are you suggesting has happened here?Why do I still have these apps on my phone?

See, I just have to check the kernel source has been picked or no.I do not have the device with me. I do not know what exactly has happened until unless I see the device.

What do you think has happened, given that I can guarantee you this phone has come out of the box, it's been booted up and it's been connected to Wi -Fi?

See, I'm again telling you, I really need to check the software.And version 5, you are saying is a December 25 software which is from some show called, which was never a software which was ever there.That is the reason I have to check what has happened.Is it been tweaked?

But you're saying that, and you've told me this before as well, that launch devices don't have these Chinese apps on them.Is that right?

Yeah, all the current devices which have been launched, they do not have any Chinese apps.

And Pulse 2 as well, Nova 2.

I'm talking about Ultra which I just recently launched.

What about the Pulse 2?Does that have Chinese apps?

No, they should not have.110 % they should not have it.

Okay, so what would you say then if I say I've got mountains of evidence of your own customers on Flipkart who all show images of these apps on their phones.including reels, content from all over the place, YouTube tutorials.

I want to show you something right now.

So I didn't tell him this, but as well as the Pulse 2 and the Nova flip phone, I also have one of the Nova 2's that he's so insistent is completely Sprocon free.Yes, I hired someone on Fiverr to buy a lot of phones for me, but guess what?First time I booted it up, it had all three Chinese Sprocon apps installed.Now, there was an update, and sure enough when I downloaded it,it, the apps did disappear.But him sitting there acting like I'm absolutely crazy for suggesting that these apps were on at least some of his phones at launch, when I've seen them across like 30 different sources at this point, is not the problem that I thought I'd be having.

Not to mention that even with those apps gone on my Nova, SPRO Weather Clock.I wonder what SPRO stands for.But do you understand why that's quite hard for me to get behind, given that this was the predominant message in the YouTube videos that have been forced to be taken down, right, is that these Chinese apps exist.You were definitely aware of this situation.Why is it that now you're telling me, oh, if this is a problem, I'll look into it?What does it mean for software to have never existed before?

I will spare you the full conversation here, but basically I spent 15 full minutes trying to see if I can get Mardav to admit that just something is wrong here that needs internal investigation.Blatantly obvious to me, but he just kept insisting that the software on my phone didn't exist.And I still don't understand what that means.Of course it exists.I'm stuck on it.Now whether or not this is the reason for the lack of updates, this absurd inconsistency between what he seems to think is on the phones versus what actually is, does line up very well with what something that the industry insider warned us about.

Because the biggest issue is also on the quality control.We will be okay with a certain level of defects.When you handle second -hand components, you know, when you kind of realize that one componentor one phone has a defect, you cannot trace the initial batch to understand where the problem is from and how you can fix it.

I myself have bought one of these phones from Flipkart to test it and I'm not seeing any kind of software update.They're telling us that there should be some sort of March software update.I've only got December.Could this lack of quality control be the reason that some people are not getting the software update which should get rid of these Chinese apps?

Oh yeah, of course.I mean, 100%.

Oh, also, do you know how mad they've asked me to buy another device to check?Well, I did.I bought two more on his request.I asked our Fiverr contact to get one from Flipkart and one from Amazon in India.And would you believe it?Even those phones, both of them, bought in India, set up in India, had all the Chinese apps still there, and no update available.

So the last thing I'm going to say about this Chinese app situation is either Mardav is incredibly, alarmingly unaware of the state of his own devices, or he's gaslighting me.And I don't know which one is worse.Anyway, in the last call, I also brought up the topic of bloatware.Now, one of the main selling points of this phone, you've talked about it in your podcast quite a bit, is you're trying to kind of erase bloatware.When you go into the game space, you do see a bunch of preloaded games.

And I wanted to ask...

You said to me, and tell me if I'm understanding this right, that on launch software all the bloatware is gone.It's worth mentioning to you that I have also found you know, all these Flipkart customers again, they also have GameSpace, and this is on the second generation phone.It's repetitive because I don't understand.How can he keep denying something that's so obviously there?Gamespace, including all the bloatware games, exists on my Pulse 2 phone.It exists on other people's YouTube videos.

It even exists on my Nova 2 phone, which has had the latest update.Anyways, we weren't making progress here, so I decided to move on.In our first call, Madhav also gave a very confusing answer as to what it means for his products to be made in India.everything is expertly imagined in India.

This product is not just made in India, it's confidently imagined.

And yet you're saying you're an ODM, then is this not imagined in China originally?The Pulse One was imagined in China, just to be clear.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.And basically because that's where I learned from it.

On the last call, you talked about how the Pulse One was imagined in China and that you learned from it.Is that right?

I did not say that.What did I say then?That's all is one.is a basic form.You do not need to design on it because there are ready -made solutions around it for the basic 4G and the basic 5G phones.So for me to imagine over there or imagine over here is one and the same thing.

I guess I just want you to understand that the reason there is so much scrutiny in this case is just because of how much you leaned into it in that launch event.

I think going forward from the next launch event, I think I'll be more specific on what exactly, which components are buying from which country, which no brand has done it.I want you to buy my flip phone or All right, let's talk about ZTE, shall we?

So I had asked Madhav about how the flip phone resembles ZTE on our last call, and he confirmed.This is still pitched as an AI plus branded phone.You've got your own name for it.You've got your own branding for it.If I was an AI plus fan because of, you know, what I've learned about the company, I would think, oh great, you know, a phone that's keeping my data in India.

He thinks it's enough that the thing has ZTE on the box.

I disagree, since this tiny footnote is the only reference to ZTE on the box.And having sat through the entire launch event, I can confirm that the name ZTE was not mentioned once during it.But now's where I think I started to really push his buttons.

have it.

What I want to clarify, Ben, is with Wearbuds, for example, did they make the product?Did you make the product?Or was it co -developed?

It was co -developed together.

Would you still count that as like designed in India?If you're saying you've co -developed it with a company where...

I've already filed a patent for it.

That's okay.You can have the patent.I believe that.But it's just, you know, the co -founders of this company are Chinese.The HQ is in...Now, the reason I'm pushing so hard is what he's saying doesn't make any sense to me.

He's told us that he started working with this company in 2022 -2023, right?There are hundreds of pieces of content showing that Wearbuds as a brand and series of products existed years before that.So is it possible that Marv have had some input into the design of this latest generation of Wearbuds?Perhaps.But do I think it's fair for him to then claimthat his product was designed in India?

No, no I don't.The way I see it, this is a bit like if I went into Apple.They've already been making iPhones for 20 years, but just because I potentially suggested some things for the iPhone 18, I call the iPhone 18 designed by Arun.But now it was time to bring up the elephant in the room.

When I asked him before why did he feel like it was right to order those YouTube videos down, he said, And as well as this idea of needing to hear the brand out first, he also kept referring to how the YouTubers' videos contained unverified claims.And I would invest in maybe more than 20 to 30 million dollars just to bring that particular phone.And if after investing a huge amount of money to bring two devices back, without putting even my side of the story, I would have been completely jeopardized, my entire sales and the launch.

Okay, so I can understand the feeling of investing tons of money into your next big venture.I can understand the pain of people criticizing it and then the panic that you might feel if they don't respond to you when you reach out.But what I don't understand is this idea that if they're not responding, let me at least get an injunction, as if that's just a normal thing to do when people don't say what you want.Because you've got to remember, there's a power dynamic here.This company is worth tens of millions of dollars.They can sue YouTubers if they want and create this dystopian situation where only their side of the story

is the allowed truth.I've seen firsthand the emotional turmoil that this has caused people, and so what creator, especially the smaller ones, are going to risk everything to challenge a company like this if core orders become the precedent?That's just not on.The freedom for reviews to be authentic without fear is crucial.Thankfully, and I have no idea if this is in response to how hard I pushed back or something completely unrelated, Between our first call and our second, Madhav seemed to have had a change of heart.

I was thinking over this weekend, I don't think so that probably I should have been so harsh in putting up a case.It's a community, which I think I should respect even more.I did something in Jiffy, I think I should have not done it.And probably I think I'm even willing to, you know, just take it back.

Do you feel like it is reasonable to expect any YouTuber, any journalist to have a third party audit and to approach you first before pointing out issues on your devices?

I would not say that they should approach me first.But if I'm trying to approach them, at least be responsive to it.I'm willing to see an improvement and learn from it.But being non -responsive made me more, I would say, in a jiffy situation.But actually the fight was not with any of the YouTubers.The fight was with an agency who was in between trying to manipulate towards creating more misunderstandings between brand and YouTubers.

So for the record, you don't agree that companies should take down or behave in the way that you did.

Yeah, I agree.I completely on record agree that I think I did something in haste, which I think probably I should not have done it, against the creators.I'm against saying my fight is against the agencies.

What he means by agencies, by the way, is the agencies that manage YouTubers, the ones that companies like AI Plus would contact, presumably to arrange brand deals with creators.So I'm really glad that he said that he's made a mistake and he'slikely going to try and reverse it, but has he convinced me that he genuinely sees the error in his ways?No.He has not.This feels a lot more like he's seen the error of what it means to get on the wrong side of every YouTuber ever, which is, I'm guessing, why he's now deflecting to blaming the agencies.

At this point, he's made crystal clear with a follow -up third phone call and message to clarify.But what's just come to light makes this feel, to me at least, like far too little too late, because TechWiser just had their first hearing in court.This is the first time they got to present their side of the story, and they claim that the only reason Mardov was able to get this ex parte order is by using tricks.So remember I said that one of the defendants named was John Doe?Well turns out that Mardov named John Doe as the main defendant.What that means is, while you usually have to serve notice to a defendant so they have a chance to defend themselves, by making the main defendant not a real person, the court accepted that you can't warn them in advance.

So you put John Doe there only so as to obviate the need and to ensure that nobody appears on day one to defend what they've done.

And then on top of that, to cover themselves, even when they did contact TechWiser with the legal order, they sent it to an email address that TechWiser says doesn't exist.Even though AI Plus has TechWiser's real email and has used it multiple times before to contact them, by sending the court order to this supposedly fake email where they knew TechWiser wouldn't see it, it meant that the YouTuber wouldn't know about the court case until it was too late.

He knows who I am.He knows all details.He knows my reputation and my credibility, but strangely can't find my email ID, to which he just corresponded two days before he filed the suit.

And in doing all this, AI plus in a way have created their ideal outcome.They've already successfully suppressed the negative coverage for weeks.So it almost doesn't matter if they lose the case when it ends in August or later.and the videos come back online.

Because by then the content would have been off in this critical juncture coinciding with the launch of their product.

So now, with that context, Madhav now telling me that he wants to rescind his court order doesn't really mean anything.And so, upon hearing this and seeing the evidence, the judge has decided that Madhav has to be summoned into court.

to answer for himself.

Despite Madhav's noble words to me, He failed to show up in court, meaning that the next hearing has been pushed to the first week of August.The YouTuber's videos are still down, while new marketing campaigns to promote AI Plus products are still coming out.The final decision awaits, but...I know where I sit.And by the way, I think there's a decent chance that AI Plus or someone tries to geolock this video to block it in India.If that happens, use a VPN like Surfshark, our sponsor, get around it and just make sure this message is heard.

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