In a major development, a district court in Gurugram has summoned Chinese E-commerce company Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma after a former employee alleged that he was wrongfully fired after objecting to censorship and fake news on the company’s applications.
Pushpandra Singh Parmar, who used to work as an associate director at the UC Web office in Gurugram, has also confirmed the development about the case.
Parmar had been associated with UC Web office based in Gurugram until October 2017 and is also seeking Rs 2 Crore (approx.) in damages so far.
Civil Judge Junior division Sonia Sheokand of a district court in Gurugram has issued summons for Alibaba, Jack Ma and about a dozen individuals and Indian directors or company units, asking them to appear in court in person or through a lawyer on July 29. The judge has also sought written responses from the company.
The court has also sought written responses from the company and its executives within 30 days, as per the summons.
The case comes weeks after India cited security concerns in banning Alibaba’s UC News, UC Browser and 57 other Chinese apps including Tik-Tok after a clash between the two countries’ military forces on their border.
“In more than 250 pages of court filings the case was filed on July 20, Parmar’ advocate Atul Ahlawat stated that the company censored content that was against Chinese interests, and its apps UC Browser and UC News posted false news to create “social and political turmoil”.
“The company used to run fake news in their web portal which Parmar had objected to. They had run some objectionable content after the Pulwama attack. The Indian government had asked around 200 questions in connection with the content and about their funding in which 24 questions were raised by Parmar,” Advocate Atul Ahlawat said.
“In the court filings, we have included clippings of some posts showcased on the UC News app that he alleged were false and objectionable,” Ahlawat said.