Humans Of New York creator slams Indian version for suing rival
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Humans Of New York creator Brandon Stanton accused Humans Of Bombay of unreasonably monetising the stories of its subjects.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM BRANDON STANTON/X
BENGALURU – The creator of photo blog Humans Of New York (Hony) has slammed an Indian version of the blog for suing a rival, accusing it of unreasonably monetising the stories of its subjects.
Mr Brandon Stanton launched Hony in 2010, sharing interviews with New York City residents alongside their photos. The account was a runaway success.
Three years later, Ms Karishma Mehta started a similar account, Humans Of Bombay (HOB) – which now has 2.7 million followers on Instagram – in her home city of Mumbai.
In September, Ms Mehta filed a copyright infringement suit against the Instagram account People Of India (POI), claiming it had “replicated a large number of images and videos” from her page.
The case has sparked a social media storm, with many chiding Ms Mehta – including Mr Stanton.
“I’ve stayed quiet on the appropriation of my work because I think @HumansOfBombay shares important stories, even if they’ve monetised far past anything I’d feel comfortable doing on Hony,” Mr Stanton wrote on Saturday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“But you can’t be suing people for what I’ve forgiven you for,” he said.
And in an apparent swipe at Ms Mehta – who receives a fee for subjects appearing on her page – Mr Stanton said, in a follow-up post, that he admired the similar Humans Of Amsterdam project because its creator did not treat people’s stories as “the ‘front end’ of a business”.
In response, HOB said the lawsuit was over POI stealing content.
“Perhaps, before jumping the gun on this matter, you ought to have equipped yourself with information about the case,” it said in a statement posted on X.
“HOB is all for the power of storytelling,” it added. “But it should be done honestly and ethically.” AFP
