Delhi HC issues summons in Abhishek Sharma personality rights suit; notes several offending URLs have been removed
New Delhi, July 9
The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued summons to the defendants in Indian cricketer Abhishek Sharma's suit seeking protection of his personality rights, while taking note of the submission that several allegedly offending URLs have since been removed.
Justice Jyoti Singh issued summonses and notices to the defendants added in the suit, directing that they be served through their social media handles, available addresses and all other legally permissible modes. The matter has been listed for further hearing on November 17.
At the outset, Advocate Gaurav Bahl, appearing for Sharma, placed an additional affidavit on record and informed the Court that a few of the allegedly offending URLs had now been removed.
Appearing for Meta Platforms, advocate Varun Pathak submitted that only two allegedly offending URLs remained on Meta's social media platforms. The Court thereafter examined the Facebook and Instagram posts in question and perused the tabulated list of URLs identified in the plaint.
During the hearing, Sharma's counsel sought an injunction against the defendant entities that had allegedly created hyperlinks enabling access to the impugned content. The Court, however, observed that the summons would first have to be served before considering the prayer for an interim injunction.
The suit concerns the alleged unauthorised use of Abhishek Sharma's name, image and likeness on online platforms, including AI-generated and digitally manipulated content.
At the previous hearing, the Court had examined the scope of personality rights while considering several URLs flagged by Sharma as allegedly infringing his rights. Justice Jyoti Singh observed that disputes involving online content often involve a "thin line" between defamation and personality rights, noting that there is some overlap between the two evolving areas of law.
Meta had contended that not every objectionable online post amounts to a personality rights violation and argued that requiring intermediaries to remove an ever-expanding list of URLs would effectively require them to "clean up the internet."
The case is among a series of personality rights matters before the Delhi High Court concerning the alleged misuse of celebrities' names, images and likenesses, particularly through AI-generated or digitally manipulated content.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Good to see the court taking this seriously. But let's be honest - how many of these fake profiles will actually be removed permanently? Social media platforms are reluctant to act unless there's a court order. Arre, internet par kisi ka bhi photo lagake account bana do, koi puchne wala nahi hai.
Interesting case. I agree that personality rights matter, but the court's point about the "thin line" with defamation is crucial. You can't just claim every critical post violates your personality rights. The law needs to evolve carefully here.
Honestly, I'm glad celebrities are finally taking a stand. But Meta's argument does make sense - they can't just "clean up the internet" every time someone complains. Need a balanced approach from the courts. And yaar, we the public should also stop spreading fake content blindly.
Makes me wonder how many lesser-known people have their images misused daily without any recourse. The system only works when you have money and lawyers. The average person's photos are probably being used for scams on WhatsApp without any hope of justice.
Good step forward for protecting individual rights in the digital age. But we also need better cyber laws to deal with AI-generated content in general. Just removing URLs is not enough - need stricter regulations on how deepfakes are created and shared. Is saal toh elections bhi hain, we need to be careful. 🧐
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