Twitter image of BIA general secretary Neelkant Bakshi.
Among those who have come out strongly against the offensive comments made by podcaster Ranveer Allahabadia aka ‘BeerBiceps’, on the show ‘India’s Got Latents’, is the little known Bharatiya Influencers Association (BIA), in what appears to be a first in the dispersed field of online influencers and podcasters.
“A social media influencer, @BeerBicepsGuy has shown his true colors by his disgustingly vulgar comments on a comedy show which is popular on Social Media, in the garb of freedom of speech. This is beyond any shreds of decency. As the general secretary of Bhartiya Influencers Association, I am disturbed and strongly condemn his comments,” BIA general secretary Neelkant Bakshi said in a post on social media platform X.
Mr. Bakshi, a communications professional, was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Delhi communications team between 2017-19. Rajshree Rai, editor the APN TV channel, is the president of the BIA.
“We formed the association in November 2023, after the Manish Kashyap incident, when he was arrested for videos about north Indian migrants in Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Bakshi said.
The initiative received encouragement from the then Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur and Minister for Petroleum Hardeep Puri, who have a sizeable following in social media.
Mr. Kashyap was arrested when he triggered panic among migrants to Tamil Nadu from Bihar after he posted some videos of violence against them, which were not authentic, according to the State authorities. Mr. Kashyap later joined the BJP in the midst of the 2024 Lok Sabha.
Mr. Allahabadi is facing a First Information Report (FIR) and legal issues in Mumbai.
The vastness of the online field of influencing and content, say the founders of the association, led them to form the body to push for self-regulation, take on big data platforms, and face of instances of legal action being taken by State governments on offensive content.
“Our simple view is that we need an association that can come up with a self-regulation code for this field, which has otherwise no regulation as such. The kind of offensive and vulgar comments that Ranveer Allahabadia made are highly regrettable, and needs to be checked, otherwise there is no end to how low the discourse can get. We also want to provide help to individual influencers in terms of their issues with platforms like YouTube and others, on any problems regarding payments, etc.,” Mr. Bakshi told The Hindu.
The BIA has a membership of around 350 or so influencers, including Tech Guruji and Ankit Bayanpuria (who appeared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of a campaign for physical fitness), as well as some lawyers who specialise in laws related to online content.
“We also want a concerted effort by influencers on positive campaigns like ‘Tobacco Free India’ or ‘Mission Road Safety,” Mr. Bakshi said.
Influencers, he said, were ploughing a lonely, individual furrow, and were vulnerable to a lot of pressure from followers, including on the question of how close they were to the ruling BJP or not. When the Centre recently gave awards to online content creators, it resulted in allegations that the awardees were biased towards the BJP and the Union government. The association, Mr. Bakshi said, would provide them with a platform specific to their interest.
While media bodies are now quite established in India, it appears that the online content space may also be becoming organised.
Published – February 11, 2025 07:34 pm IST