Business magazine Businessworld served two Twitter users with defamation notices this week for sharing a screenshot of a LinkedIn interaction between Businessworld chairman Annurag Batra and a former employee of the magazine.
The screenshot in question was a LinkedIn post by Batra that said, "Silently hear everyone. Accept what is good. Reject and forget what is not. This is intelligent living. ~ Good Morning."
The comment was posted by Raghu Mohan, who used to work with Businessworld and now works with Business Standard. He commented on Batra's LinkedIn status saying, "First pay salaries on time. And then post humbug."
Writer Vivek Kaul and communications consultant Karthik Srinivasan both shared the screenshot on Twitter on June 5.
Kaul had shared the LinkedIn interaction with the caption "peak LinkedIn". He tweeted today that he had deleted the tweet after receiving a legal notice from the magazine.
While the tweet was more an observation on how LinkedIn works, the good people at BW felt hurt about the screenshot being shared. Hence, I have decided to delete the tweet. Hope this puts the matter to rest.
— शिक्षित बेरोज़गार (@kaul_vivek) June 7, 2021
So did Srinivasan, who also shared a snippet of the legal notice sent to him. The notice asked him to "refrain from levelling any false, baseless and imaginary allegations and defamatory remarks" and to "issue an unconditional written apology" on his Twitter handle.
(a) will refrain.
— Karthik (@beastoftraal) June 7, 2021
(b) deleted.
(c) I hereby offer an unconditional apology to @BWBusinessworld for publishing the aforementioned LinkedIn post on my Twitter account.
(d) Sending via WhatsApp, to Ragav Sethi (TrustLegal) who sent me the legal notice on behalf of BW Businessworld. pic.twitter.com/BfyTi5jXVb
Mohan's comment on LinkedIn has also been deleted.
Newslaundry reached out to Businessworld chairman Annurag Batra for comment but did not receive a response. The ABP Group had sold Businessworld in 2013 to Batra, who owns exchange4media, and, among others, Vikram Jhunjhunwala, who runs an investment banking and asset management firm.
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