'Humans of New York' creator takes veiled dig at 'Humans of Bombay' in latest post

"Humans of New York" founder Brandon Stanton reacted to the "Humans of Bombay" case against another page.

Brandon Stanton, the creator of digital storytelling platform “Humans of New York”, has taken a veiled dig at “Humans of Bombay” amid the ongoing controversy surrounding its Indian counterpart.

The New York-based writer and photographer slammed those who create art with a profit motive, saying that he has not never taken money for any story on “Humans of New York” in the last 13 years, despite being offered millions. Brandon, 39, said all of his earnings are though his books of my work, his speeches and through subscription-based platform Patreon.

“Beautiful art can make money, there is nothing wrong with that. But when art begins with a profit motive, it ceases to become art. And it becomes the product,” he told The Washington Post.

“I welcome anyone who is using the ‘Humans of’ concept to express something true and beautiful about their community. I do not identify with anyone who is using it for the sake of creating a certain lifestyle for themselves.”

Was just asked for comment by The Washington Post regarding a certain court case involving my work, but which thankfully doesn't involve me. I thought it would be worthwhile to share the statement here. For an example of a true artist who has done beautiful things with the… pic.twitter.com/y6Xvz8EGSx

— Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) September 26, 2023

Stanton had slammed “Humans of Bombay” for suing “People of India”, another similar platform, for alleged copyright violation. He said the Karishma Mehta-founded company had monetised its work “far past anything”.

“You can't be suing people for what I've forgiven you for,” Stanton had written on X (formerly Twitter).

In his latest post on X, Brandon once again praised Debra Barraud, who started the “Humans of Amsterdam” page, and encouraged people to follow the brand.

“For an example of a true artist who has done beautiful things with the 'Humans of' concept, I would encourage everyone to follow @HumansofAdam on Instagram,” he wrote.

Since the weekend, “Humans of Bombay” and Mehta are facing backlash on social media, being trolled for allegedly copying the “Humans of New York” format and in turn, suing another Indian platform over copyrights.

An old video of Mehta saying that the idea of creating the platform came “out of the blue” is viral.

“Completely randomly and out of the blue, I stumbled upon the idea of Humans of Bombay and I started it. And it clicked. That period was a high of its own to start something new,” she says in the video.

"Humans of Bombay" had issued an open letter to Stanton, calling it a “cryptic assault on our efforts to protect our intellectual property”. It further clarified on the issue, sharing details of the lawsuit.