The X (formerly Twitter) account of Dr Cyriac Philips, who is popularly known as TheLiverDr, was suspended in India on Thursday. This is in response to a "legal demand", as mentioned on the suspended account.
Philips, a Senior Consultant at The Liver Institute at Kerala's Rajagiri Hospital, is often known for countering health misinformation and questioning the viability of alternative medicines like ayurveda, unani and homeopathy, on X and Instagram.
Philips, who was intimated by the social media platform about the account suspension via mail, told BOOM that this has been done as a result of a plea filed by the pharmaceutical company, Himalaya, in a Bengaluru court.
What is the case about?
Himalaya has filed a plea in a Bengaluru court arguing that Philips has made some "derogatory and defamatory remarks" against the company, on X, resulting in the loss of their business. According to the court order, the company has also alleged that Philips's sole intention behind this is to promote Himalaya's competition in the field, like Cipla and Alchem.
Himalaya, in the court order, said that Philips's posts on X against the company and its products have caused them "loss of reputation, loss of income in monetary terms and disservice to the consumers who are benefitted by the products like Liv.52."
Henceforth, the Bengaluru court, citing Section 79 of IT Act 2000, directed the social media platform X to block/suspend TheLiverDr's handle, restraining him from "tweeting, making or publishing, re-tweeting and republishing defamatory remarks" against the complainant.
The next date of hearing is January 5, 2024.
How has TheLiverDr responded to the allegations?
According to Philips, these allegations, made in response to his months-old tweets about the company, are completely "baseless". He told BOOM, "Everything I have posted about Himalaya products is backed by scientific evidence."
According to him, a lot of Himalaya products which they claim to have undergone scrutiny by several publications, are actually very sub-par, most of them being fake with fraudulent data and not peer reviewed.
He said, "The posts which I made about their products were personally analysed and are backed by documentary proof. There have been several studies published in the West which state that their product Liv.52 is actually very harmful for liver and I have cited those."
Recently, Philips has also sent his own paper for publication in a peer-reviewed journal which shows that in a series of patients Himalaya products have caused liver failure and severe liver injuries. He feels that the ongoing matter is unfair to him because the pharmaceutical company is actually defaming him. "I will challenge the orders in a higher court very soon", he said.
