Sharath Nalla is a popular Telugu social media influencer known for his engaging videos with his wife, Nisha. Their light hearted and relatable content has earned them a strong following online.
Recently, Sharath released a video raising awareness about the dangers of drug consumption. In the video, he mentioned that one of his friends had died after consuming drugs and urged people to stay safe and keep away from such substances.
Since Sharath is based in Visakhapatnam, many viewers assumed that the person he referred to was from Andhra Pradesh. This led to speculation on social media, especially among supporters of different political groups in the state.
The ruling party supporters began demanding that Sharath reveal the identity of the victim, suspecting that the comment was indirectly linked to the opposition party's red flags about drug usage in the region.
To clear the confusion, Sharath later released another message explaining that the victim he mentioned was from outside India.
He said he shared the incident only to highlight the serious risks of drug consumption anywhere in the world. Sharath stressed that his intention was purely to spread awareness.
Today, social media influencers are in the trap of saying something just to become viral. They do this without knowing from which direction trouble might come.
Especially, making social comments is dangerous, as they often take a political angle, a gender angle, or some other sensitive angle.
Sharath’s comment here took a political angle and got pressure from present government supporters to give clarification on that.
This is because there is already widespread talk and allegations by opposition party supporters that drugs have become rampant in some AP towns and cities.
Social media comments rarely do anything positive, but often lead only to negative outcomes. If someone sees controversy, they need to stand strong like Ram Gopal Varma and enjoy it.
But aiming for controversial publicity to win traction and more followers; and then lamenting about the consequences later, would not help.
