Social media was known to be the platform where everyone could freely speak about their opinion on different subjects or brands, but with time, this safe space has become a war zone and a field of personal attacks. One such case happened when a healthy debate between two well-known personalities, Harsh Kanwar (known for sharing evidence-based information about health and fitness) and Jitendra Chouksey (author and owner of the FITTR app), turned into a patch of defensive cheap tricks when Jitendra accepted that he didn’t read the study before commenting on its contents. When this was exposed to the Instagram audience, the popularly known founder and CEO of FITTR sent a legal notice against Harsh threatening to remove all the company- or personality-related content that exposes the misinformation they have been spreading.
What was supposed to be a civil and enlightening discussion, took an ugly turn when Chouksey decided to take things to the comment section of Harsh’s official Instagram page. His comments escalated quickly, from general criticism to personal attacks and insults. This happened after Harsh dominated the debate massively, expressing thorough professionalism and respect.
Chouksey was also caught confidently misrepresenting the meaning of an RCT: a Randomised Controlled Trial, which is considered as a beginner mistake for anyone who analyses scientific literature and research articles.
Expert Harsh Kanwar, who is not just a remarkably learned professional in the fitness and healthcare industry but also a medical professional, had been sent a legal notice, which falsely claimed that ‘Harsh Kanwar had omitted important facts regarding the debate.’ Later, Harsh Kanwar’s legal team strongly responded stating that ‘Harsh made the video critiquing Jitendra’s claims with support from renowned research articles.’ The team further asked Jitendra to withdraw his false claims. However, Jitendra has not yet responded.
Before the start of the debate, Chouksey had shared a legal disclaimer stating that the debate would only be for educational purposes, however after his terrible defeat, he went against his own word. Not only this, Chouksey also depicted absolute misconduct by accusing Harsh Kanwar of deleting the debate recording and trying to portray the entire situation as a win for him, by leveraging the popularity of his company.
Considering all the past events, this isn’t the first time Jitendra Chouksey has insulted someone on social media. There are plenty of times that Chouksey has conducted personal attacks and sent multiple legal notices against anyone who proves that Chouksey has been spreading misinformation. This includes not just other distinctive professionals in the fitness industry, but also his own faculty members (Ex-FITTR), coaches, and mere viewers from the audience, who were referred to as “buffaloes and cows” (meaning that they can be easily manipulated).
Although shocking, Jitendra has been seen insulting, cussing, and passing racist comments against members of the Sikh community for throwing light on the inaccuracies and misinformation, widely spread by FITTR. In light of this, what do you think about the use of social media for healthy debates and discussions? Do you believe that it’s still a safe space for expressing opinions, or has it become a battleground for personal attacks and misinformation?
