The Bombay and Delhi High Courts are increasingly intervening to address AI-generated deepfake content misusing celebrities’ identities, signalling a new legal front in synthetic media disputes amid proposed regulations.
The Bombay High Court has added another case to a growing body of Indian litigation over personality rights and AI-generated abuse, with actor Shruti Haasan seeking damages of INR 15 crore over the alleged unauthorised use of her name, image, likeness and voice, as well as sexually explicit deepfake material. The suit also relies on performers’ moral rights under the Copyright Act, reflecting how courts are increasingly being asked to treat synthetic media as both a privacy and copyright problem.
Haasan’s case comes as the Bombay High Court has been willing to grant urgent relief in similar disputes involving public figures. In a recent matter, the court ordered major platforms to take down content said to infringe actor Preity Zinta’s personality rights, finding a strong prima facie case and extending protection to uses involving artificial intelligence, generative AI, machine learning, deepfakes, face morphing and GIFs, according to LiveLaw Biz. Media reports said the court also treated the misuse of identity in AI-generated content as a serious intrusion on fundamental rights.
The trend is not limited to the Bombay High Court. The Delhi High Court has also stepped in to order the removal of derogatory online material targeting actor Tabassum Jamal Hashmi, known as Tabu, while granting interim protection in a personality rights dispute. Elsewhere, the Bombay High Court recently directed the takedown of AI-generated deepfake videos and manipulated clips involving Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, signalling that Indian courts are moving quickly to preserve remedies where false or defamatory synthetic content spreads online.
The wider legal backdrop is also shifting. A parliamentary committee has urged a stronger framework to address deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation, while the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has said draft amendments are being prepared to increase platform responsibilities for identifying, labelling and controlling synthetic content. Taken together, those developments suggest that disputes like Haasan’s are likely to become more common, and that courts may increasingly be asked to balance free expression, platform liability and the protection of identity in the age of generative AI.
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