How can you protect your celebrity client from harassment, impersonation and abuse on the Internet? This seems to be the question plaguing the minds of celebrity managers who handle some of the biggest stars in Bollywood as some of their clients have had a bad time online fending off impersonators. Though the actors have got assistance from the police, their managers want to add another level of security for them.

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Now, they have also opened Twitter and Facebook accounts and are keeping a watch on other people who are following their clients. In case of impersonation or harassment, they are immediately reporting it to the cyber crime cell.

Parag Desai, who manages Shilpa Shetty and Ajay Devgn among others, says, “We are not barging into our clients’ privacy. But we need to be careful enough because the many new online platforms of direct access to the stars makes it easier for people to touch base with them. As soon as we find lewd messages or impersonations, we report it to the site and take it up with the police.”

Parull Gosain, who manages Shahid Kapoor,  says, “We keep strict vigil and take the help of the police as all clients ride on big brand value. Controversies without any truth are damaging for the image.”

Prabhat Choudhary of Spice, whose company manages Aamir Khan however has a different point of view. He says “The Internet’s architecture has embedded the principle of freedom of speech and netizens view censorship as damage. The medium lends itself to anonymity which increases the possibilities of negative feedback. So while we may try and monitor, largely all attempts are futile.”