Delhi High Court to Protect Shashi Tharoor’s Personality Rights in Deepfake Case

Issuing notice on the application for interim injunction and summons in Tharoor's suit seeking protection of his personality rights, Justice Mini Pushkarna, while dictating the order, stated, "Orders will be passed in terms of several prayers"

The Court was hearing a civil suit filed by Tharoor against alleged AI-generated deepfake videos circulating on social media platforms.

Senior Advocate Amit Sibal appeared for Tharoor and submitted that fabricated videos using artificial intelligence had allegedly cloned the Congress leader's face, voice, expressions and speaking style.

During the hearing, Sibal argued that the case concerned the protection of an individual's personality rights and reputation. "This is an individual. It is not a corporation seeking protection of a trademark," he submitted before the Court.

According to the suit, Tharoor discovered around March 2026 that AI and machine-learning tools were allegedly being used to create hyper-realistic deepfake videos portraying him making politically sensitive statements.

The plea specifically referred to videos allegedly showing him praising Pakistan's diplomatic strategy and making remarks purportedly detrimental to India's interests.

Sibal submitted that despite fact-checkers and media organisations identifying the videos as fake, the content continued to circulate online and influence public perception.

He told the Court that complaints had been sent to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Delhi Police authorities and social media intermediaries under the Information Technology Rules.

Referring to the recurring nature of the content, Sibal argued that even after takedowns, identical videos continued to resurface through different links and URLs. "They are always in different URLs. These are three deepfake videos in different links. Identical, same video but appearing in a different URL," he submitted.

He further submitted that the alleged videos affected not only Tharoor's personal reputation but also India's standing internationally. "They have misappropriated my personality and created these videos praising another country to my detriment. I have been the external affairs minister. It matters to India's standing as well," Sibal argued.

Counsel appearing for Meta informed the Court that the Instagram URLs identified in Schedule 1 of the plaint had been made inaccessible on Friday morning. Sibal, however, pointed out that the links had remained accessible till the previous evening.

While considering the request for dynamic injunctions against future uploads of similar content, the Court observed that it would pass a standard order granting liberty to the plaintiff to approach the platforms if identical content reappeared.

The Delhi High Court thereafter issued notice in the matter, directed replies to be filed within four weeks, and ordered registration of the plaint as a suit along with issuance of summons.

As part of the reliefs sought, Tharoor has requested a permanent injunction restraining Defendant No. 1 and others acting on his behalf from allegedly using, reproducing, publishing, displaying or disseminating his name, identity, image, likeness, voice, photographs, expressions and other personality attributes through AI technologies, deepfakes, morphing or voice cloning.

The suit further seeks directions for immediate removal, deletion and disabling of allegedly infringing content, including deepfake videos, morphed images, AI-generated audio-visual material, fake profiles and fabricated posts bearing Tharoor's identity across digital platforms.

Tharoor has also sought damages of Rs. 2,00,05,000 for alleged loss of reputation and goodwill.

The plea additionally seeks directions to X Corp and Meta Platforms Inc. to block access to allegedly infringing content, disclose identities and registration details of persons allegedly responsible for creating and disseminating such material, and permanently disable fake accounts and handles operating in association with Tharoor's identity.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications have also been arrayed as parties, with the petition seeking directions for blocking and preventive measures against further circulation of the allegedly manipulated content.

The suit alleges violations of personality and publicity rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, apart from claims relating to passing off, misappropriation and dilution by tarnishment. It also refers to provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, relating to identity theft and forgery.

- ANI