Watch Barbel Pitch Meetings’ YouTube video here: [ Video | English-translated version using Sarvam ]
“I haven’t seen censorship operating at this scale anywhere else,” said a US-based Telugu YouTube movie reviewer, Sushanth, who runs Barbel Pitch Meetings, in a video he posted to explain and expose how Bengaluru-based AI Plex is (mis)using legal notices for online censorship and to curb free speech related to critical reviews of a few major Telugu movies.
“Even now, there are more than ten active cases against me. They keep filing in the same courts, routing them through Bangalore, and serving them to me one after another. My estimate for the end of this year? If it’s ten-plus now, I think we’re looking at 20 by December,” he added.
What is happening? On June 3, the Telugu film Peddi premiered. As usual, following the release, online discussion began, and many viewers and YouTubers commented on the film. Sushanth (Barbel Pitch Meetings) and “Ra One for You” were among those who commented on the film. When Barbel uploaded its review of Peddi, the film’s team allegedly sent a copyright notice. He removed the video and later re-uploaded it without any visual references to Peddi. The first uploaded video used a Peddi promotional image along with short clips from the film’s trailers and teasers.
Watch Sushanth (Barbel) Peddi movie review here: [ YouTube Video | Translation ]
Quick note: Using images or clips for criticism does not constitute copyright infringement; Section 52 of India’s Copyright Act lists acts that do not constitute copyright infringement. These include:
Apart from Barbel, Peddi’s legal team managed to take down the reviews of Rehaman, who runs “Ra One For You.” He made his review of Peddi private. These are the URLs specified in the screenshots of the legal notice: [ Video URL | YT Short URL ].
After they got him to remove the video, he said:
He also alleged that such targeted attacks on free speech and personal attacks were the reason for YouTuber Ragadi’s decision to quit movie reviews. However, Ragadi didn’t explicitly blame anyone in his video while announcing his departure from movie reviews. Watch Rehaman’s reel in Telugu here: [ Video | Translation ]
No one knows what happened to ‘Venky Reviews’: In a very suspicious way, these two accounts disappeared from X without any explanation/notice.
“This is straight-up MAFIA behavior! A Telugu trade analyst, Venky Box Office, was reportedly forced to delete his account(s) after reporting that the North America/overseas collections of #Peddi were heading towards a disaster. #BuchiBabuSana #RamCharan People say a lot of negative things about Bollywood, but I have never seen a producer allegedly exert such pressure that it takes away someone’s freedom of speech,” read Bollywood Talkies’ post on X.
After over a month of Sankranti/Pongal releases, in February 2026, Sushanth (Barbel) posted his first video about how a few producers are misusing court orders to curtail free speech online. Watch the full video here: [ Video | Translation ]
Some of the key statements made in the video are:
Producers are using anti-piracy John Doe orders to go after critical reviews, via AI Plex: “The Shankar Varaprasad cinema team handed over their copyright and anti-piracy rights to this AIplex outfit. In principle, that makes sense. If a film leaks, the damage is immediate and severe, and having someone pursue takedowns quickly rather than going through courts every time is a reasonable approach. Fair enough. But using that same mechanism to go after reviews? That is deeply wrong, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. That will become clear in time.”
Who has the legal right to send a legal notice? Producer or distributor? “The production house authorized AIplex. Fine. Sitaram Entertainments, our beloved Nagavamsi, granted them certain rights. That’s documented. But then the distributor filed a case. Did the production house give the distributor that authority? Is there any document to that effect? Nothing has been shown to me. You can’t just insert yourself into the middle of this and start making threats with no standing.” Producer Naga Vamsi released Anaganaga Oka Raju during the 2026 Sankranti/Pongal season.
Karnataka HC stayed the lower court’s John Doe blocking order: “We went to the High Court and filed a writ petition, which is a serious step. Essentially, we challenged the lower court orders and took the matter to the Karnataka High Court… Getting admission itself is a major victory. And in our case, the High Court admitted the petition, which means it found sufficient merit to take it up. But it didn’t stop there. The court also granted a stay on the original orders, which is an even bigger win.”
The YouTuber alleged that ad-driven media and online reviewers alike are captured by the film industry’s access economy, inflating ratings and sugarcoating average films to avoid being blacklisted. He also claimed that bought views are standard practice across trailers and song releases, and offered a simple test: check the views-to-comments ratio. A genuine channel, he argued, will show real engagement regardless of whether the review is positive or negative, while a PR-inflated video will have millions of views and almost no comments.
Essential read: All Telugu films released this Sankranti/Pongal season, except the Prabhas-starrer The Rajasaab, had their ratings and reviews blocked by BookMyShow, following a court order. The same company, AI Plex, is behind these orders. Read more about this here.
Explore more: Explained: Why a court injunction forced BookMyShow to disable Telugu film ratings
AI Disclosure: We used Sarvam’s Saaras Text-to-Speech model to translate the transcription into English.
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