The founder of Sociabl, the Australian tech startup that is causing serious controversy after it was alleged they had used the images of several local and international celebrities without permission, has hit back at claims his company is “dodgy”.

Several celebrities, including Jimmy Barnes, his son David Campbell, and will.i.am have distanced themselves from the company, whose app allows paying customers to have one-on-one video chats with a range of musicians, sports stars, and luminaries.

Barnes’ son, David Campbell was one of the first celebrities to point out they knew nothing about the app despite being featured on it during an interview with 21-year-old Sociabl founder Brandon Reynolds on Channel Nine’s Today.

“My name came up on the app, and I was like – I’ve never heard of this app,” Campbell told Reynolds. “I called my Dad up and guess what – he hadn’t either. You’ve used a couple there as advertising, very public advertising, who didn’t really know anything about it.”

Campbell’s dad subsequently released his own statement calling out Sociabl. “These people have completely lied about my involvement. I think they’re just using my name to try to fool people into buying a dodgy product,” Barnes wrote.

“It’s wrong and I have nothing to do with it. If the people behind this don’t stop putting these stories out there then I’ll have to make them stop.” According to Today, Reece Mastin, 5 Seconds of Summer, and Richard Branson have also denied any involvement with Sociabl.

Reynolds has now hit back at what he’s called Today‘s “false and defamatory” report, attempting to set the record straight on Sociabl whilst insisting the company had been given the proper permission to use the likenesses of Campbell, Barnes, and others.

“Due to the false and defamatory reports from David Campbell and Channel 9 we have been asked to temporarily remove some of our clients from the app,” the statement opens. “In the interest of all our clients we’ve removed all celebrities from the app until further notice.”

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According to Reynolds, when a celebrity or their representative who’s been contacted by Sociabl expresses interest in participating with the app, they’re given a range of info, including “a deal memo… and in the end a full fledged legal contract”.

While Reynolds doesn’t state that Sociabl had a contract with Campbell, Mastin, or Barnes, he claims the trio’s representative, Jake Challenor, “CEO of David’s record label and digital team”, had allowed the use of their images on the Sociabl app.

Reynolds goes on to claim that he was blindsided by Campbell’s grilling and that the interview was edited and segments used out of context in order to portray “Sociabl and others in a completely false, misleading and defamatory light”.

Read the full statement via Medium here.

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