Influencer Marketing is at its peak as YouTubers and Instagram bloggers have become the new celebrities. The fact that they connect with the audience in a way that people can relate to their lives makes their influence much stronger than the Bollywood stars.

Gaurav Chaudhary popularly known as Technical Guruji is a very well known name in India’s online smartphone community. In a very short time span of 3 years, he has managed to gain millions of followers. His YouTube Channel mainly talks about smartphone related things such as unboxing, reviews. Recently, he has been involved in a controversy for the latest video he published on Technical Guruji’s YouTube channel which focuses on Samsung’s new M series smartphones.

Here is the video:

Let us tell you that Gaurav was present at the India launch event for these Galaxy M series phones, and was also on stage for unveiling and unboxing.

Time to unveil the new #GalaxyMSeries…Video coming soon…#IMPOWERD pic.twitter.com/cM1OzF7aRN

— Gaurav Chaudhary (@TechnicalGuruji) January 28, 2019

One can easily understand why Samsung opted for Gaurav to launch their smartphone. But Xiaomi’s global VP and India MD Manu Kumar Jain started this debate on whether it’s correct for tech bloggers to be on stage at product launches especially when your work involves reviews as well.

In a tweet, Manu talked about the possibility of money exchanging hands in return of endorsement

Ironical to see tech bloggers get up on stage at product launches, talking all great things about the product (maybe influenced by monetary payment). As a reviewer, users depend on you, to be honest & open about any product. How can this be termed as ‘unbiased’ media?

he wrote.

Ironical to see tech bloggers get up on stage at product launches, talking all great things about the product (maybe influenced by monetary payment).

As a reviewer, users depend on you to be honest & open about any product.

How can this be termed as 'unbiased' media?

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) January 28, 2019

Manu’s tweet didn’t have the name Gaurav or the Technical Guruji channel, but its timing makes us clear who was being referred to. The follow-up tweets made it clear the debate was about Technical Guruji.

https://twitter.com/ishanagarwal24/status/1089872876675706882

Wow, Thats Great, Atleast Someone in the Company belives in Tech Youtubers Like Us. And yes this type of advertising is completely not acceptable.

— Tech Star Shahrukh (@techstarsrk) January 28, 2019

So true,
I agree ,
He has changed 100% ,
Actually I'm beginning to hate him for misguiding his audiences by taking business partnership and money as his first preference.

— Sandeep R N (@sandeep_rn) January 28, 2019

Gaurav hasn’t officially talked about this. Here are a couple of his recent tweets:

Great phone with amazing specs, but poor built quality…Wish it lasted bit longer.. RIP #RedmiNote7 pic.twitter.com/gBQsCAoVs9

— Gaurav Chaudhary (@TechnicalGuruji) January 30, 2019

Here’s how people reacted to this:

Wanna see M20 bend Test.

— Binaykrishna Mahato (@binaykrishna18) January 30, 2019

Samsung ne paisa diya h taaki Uska M20 bik sake… #GurujiIsBiased

— Md Abadullah 𝕏 (@TalkwidAbad) January 30, 2019

Gaurav has also released a video in which this was unexpected as Samsung’s marketing videos for the phone make it seem it’s very hard to break the phone. Take a look at the video and share with us your thoughts on what Gaurav says in the video:

Here are some other reactions:

I guess he wants to take a revenge from Xiaomi over this tweet.https://t.co/YokaUCbcuL

— Sudhanshu Ambhore (@Sudhanshu1414) January 30, 2019

He is showing his reality. Now I am not following him anywhere. Worst Tech Creator on this planet.

— Ratnesh Kumar (@ratneshkumar684) January 30, 2019