Baba Ka Dhaba and Social Media’s Recipe of Controversy

 

If you are on social media, you must have heard about ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’. An old couple running a roadside eatery were not able to meet the ends because of lack of sales in the post-Covid scenario. Someone made their video where the old man was crying and telling his plight and posted it on social media. The video went viral, caught everyone’s attention because of its humanitarian aspect and soon a large crowd started gathering at his eatery for food. Media persons from all major TV News channels also bought food from there and gave much coverage to the old couple. Time passed, and the news started fading. But now there has been a new controversy.

The old man who runs Baba Ka Dhaba has filed a police complaint accusing the person who made his original video, accusing him of collecting huge funds in his own bank account, while pretending to be collecting the funds as donation to the old couple. You can read about it here. If this is true, then this incident tells very negatively about the “power of social media”.

It seems social media is going the ‘mainstream media’ way. In fact, where ever there is money involved, things tend to go astray. Selfishness, greed and ambition are traits which have corrupted many people. Social media influencers who have monetized their platforms, i.e. who earn something from their social media activity and accounts, have lost credibility and often behave in unethical manners.

I remember the days when I started writing and I started blogging in order to share my writing. The time around year 2006-07 were initial days of social media in India. In those days, no one took to social media or blogging for “money”. But things changed quickly.

Today, most big social media accounts earn money by posting stuff. For example, there are product review sites who take money from brands and write positive reviews about those. There are financial education sites which show favorable inclination towards companies and earn passive income. Then there are digital influencers who host ads on their platform and earn money by programs like Google Ad Sense. Not everything, but a lot of things are up “for sale”.

I wish people used social media as a hobby or passion but never as a profession. I am skeptic towards those social media influencers who earn money in some way or the other. I do not consider them honest or ethical. Social media should not make everyone a “businessman”. We need non-businessmen in our society as well as on social media.

Someone asked what was wrong in the way the Youtuber used the old man to earn some money for himself; after all, Baba had also earned a lot in the process only due to his video. I think if the Youtuber had explicitly mentioned that he was planning to earn personally by using Baba's story, it won't be wrong. But he cheated and misled Baba as well as his audiences and that was unethical. I wish the Youtuber comes out clean and gives all the money he collected in Baba’s name to him.

Hope this incident makes people realize that human interactions should not be only for monetary gains, our feelings should not be exploited by anyone for commercial gains, and social media should still remain purely “social”.

- Rahul Tiwary