In a series of posts on X on Sunday, Goyal addressed criticism of Temple’s pricing, scientific claims and positioning. This comes after days of social media backlash over the device and questions raised by doctors about its claims around brain health, including by Indian hepatologist Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, who is popularly known as TheLiverDoc on social media platforms.
Goyal said the company did not want people to support Temple simply because it was an Indian startup, adding “We don’t need/want nationalist support.”
Addressing questions around the scientific evidence backing Temple, Goyal said customers were free to wait for peer-reviewed evidence before making a purchase and were under no obligation to believe the company’s claims.
“Nobody is forcing you to buy. Making announcements is our right; and if we overclaim anywhere, we will inevitably fall into regulatory trouble everywhere in the world,” he said.
Responding to criticism from doctors and other members of the medical community, Goyal said that Temple was a fitness and AI device and not a medical product.
He clarified that Temple was not proven to diagnose or prevent any disease and was not intended to replace consultations with doctors.
Goyal also said he would publish a detailed note on how Temple calculates Brain Flow, its applications and its limitations on Monday (November 9).
“Social media is not the regulator for Temple. Wherever we need regulatory clearances, we will have them before we make any claim needing them,” he said.
In the second post just minutes later, Goyal addressed speculation around online support for Temple, saying he had never asked anyone to post in support of his businesses in exchange for money or otherwise.
“In my entire history of building Zomato, Eternal, and now Temple – we have never asked anyone to post anything online, for money or otherwise,” he wrote.