Delhi High Court to order removal of AI-generated ‘fake’ videos of Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it will pass an interim order protecting the personality and publicity rights of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a suit seeking the removal of alleged deepfake videos and AI-generated content falsely depicting him as praising Pakistan. 

A single-judge Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna issued summons on Tharoor’s plea and directed the respondents, including the Centre and social media intermediaries such as Meta and X, to file their replies within four weeks.

While dictating the order, Justice Pushkarna observed that interim directions would be passed “in terms of prayers a, b, c and d” sought in the application for injunction.

Senior advocate Amit Sibal, appearing on behalf of Tharoor, submitted before the Delhi High Court that several deepfake videos falsely attributed politically sensitive statements to the Congress leader and posed a serious threat to his reputation as well as India’s standing internationally.

Sibal contended that despite repeated complaints to authorities and social media platforms under the Information Technology (IT) Rules, the allegedly infringing content continued to reappear through different URLs.

“These are three deepfake videos in different links. Identical, same video but appearing in different URLs,” Sibal submitted, adding that even though fact-checking organisations had established that the videos were fake, sections of the public continued to perceive them as genuine.

The senior counsel argued that the alleged misuse of Tharoor’s likeness and persona could have wider diplomatic implications, given his stature as a public figure and former Union minister. “What I say matters, and it matters to India’s standing as well. They have misappropriated my personality and created these videos praising another country to my detriment,” Sibal told the Delhi High Court.

He further submitted that the deepfake videos could potentially be misused by foreign governments and formed part of a coordinated misinformation campaign aimed at tarnishing Tharoor’s patriotic image and manipulating public perception.

Appearing for one of the intermediaries, Meta informed Justice Pushkarna that certain URLs identified by Tharoor were already unavailable on its platforms. However, the plaintiff contended that similar content kept resurfacing through newly generated links.

Tharoor has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against the alleged unauthorised use of his name, likeness, image and identity across digital platforms, including through AI-generated and morphed content.

The Shashi Tharoor case adds to a growing list of high-profile personalities invoking their personality and publicity rights before the Delhi High Court. In recent months, former cricketer and current head coach Gautam Gambhir, former cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Arjun Kapoor, Allu Arjun, Nagarjuna, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan, singer Jubin Nautiyal, filmmaker Karan Johar, and podcaster Raj Shamani have secured court protection against the unauthorised use of their identity, likeness, or AI-generated imitations.