Mumbai: WhiteHatJr, the Byju’s acquired startup has recently been accused of getting its senior employee to impersonate a kid named ‘Kavya’ and attend a trial class on its competitor platform Tekie that also offers Online Coding Courses for Kids.
Citing the trial class held on October 19, 2020, around 6.00 pm, Tekie claims to have witnessed a suspicious session. According to Tekie, they have the practice of reviewing every session conducted on a particular day to ensure that the quality of education is not compromised. On 19th October they have encountered a suspicious session, where the student had their camera turned off, and the voice from their side sounded almost like a 30-year-old adult. Upon further investigation, they discovered that the student was a senior employee at WhiteHatJr.
“Was our competition so fixated on our ways that they had to resort to such a fraudulent practice? The very idea of spying and copying a competitor’s model is unethical for any business. Malpractices like these not only hurt the brand image but also tarnishes the industry as a whole.” says Naman Mukund, co-founder of Tekie.
While WhiteHatJr outrightly rejected Tekie’s acquisitions and called it a false allegation against them, team Tekie has put the session video on LinkedIn as proof. Tekie claims to have evidence like an email window with WhiteHatJr work email id signed in and the number used for registration being answered by a senior employee at WhiteHatJr.
“No matter what they say, we have got the proof. I uploaded the video on LinkedIn to ensure that the truth comes out in public. We have built our company on ethics and transparency and we believe in healthy competition. If the WhiteHatJr team had reached out to us directly, we would have happily apprised them with our approach. But what happened instead is unacceptable at any cost.” adds Mukund.
It is not for the first time that WhiteHatJr has ended up in any controversy. The coding startup has earlier been criticized for unethically using its influence to remove social media ‘advertisement roast’ posts by Mehul Haria, a 12 yr old Youtuber, and for manipulating parents with their marketing campaigns.
Tekie has also shared the video on LinkedIn, that shows the alleged act of impersonation by the WhiteHat Jr. employee. This includes claims like the student was screen-recording the session, an email window with WhiteHat Jr.
