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Why Top Bollywood Celebs Are Taking the Deepfake Battle to Delhi High Court?

Bollywood stars move court to curb AI deepfakes and protect their digital identities.

A wave of Bollywood luminaries, including Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, and Karan Johar, have approached the Delhi High Court to safeguard their personality rights against unauthorized commercial use of their images, voices, and likenesses. These legal battles, driven by the rise of AI-generated deepfakes and misleading content, highlight the growing challenge of content regulation in India. The celebrities are seeking judicial intervention to curb the spread of manipulated media that exploits their identities for fake news, fraudulent endorsements, or explicit content, spotlighting a broader issue that affects not just the famous but ordinary citizens as well.

The Delhi High Court has emerged as a key battleground for these cases due to its history of landmark judgments recognizing personality rights, which encompass control over the commercial use of one’s identity and likeness. Mimansa Ambastha, a Delhi-based technology and privacy law expert, explained to NDTV that India lacks statutory protections for personality rights, pushing celebrities to seek judicial remedies.

The court’s dedicated intellectual property rights division, alongside the Madras High Court, has set precedents for swift takedowns of deepfakes, fake social media accounts, and AI-generated content, making it a preferred venue despite many celebrities residing in Mumbai.

Current Indian laws, such as the Information Technology (IT) Act, provide some recourse through provisions like Section 66C (identity theft), Section 66D (impersonation), Section 66E (privacy violation), and sections addressing obscene content. The yet-to-be-fully-implemented Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, may also apply to deepfake violations, though enforcement against anonymous perpetrators remains challenging.

The government has issued advisories mandating platforms to remove deepfakes and misinformation promptly, but experts argue that a dedicated AI-focused legal framework, similar to the European Union’s AI Act, is urgently needed to address the evolving threat of manipulated content.

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While celebrities leverage their resources to fight deepfakes in court, ordinary individuals face similar risks with fewer options for redress. Chief Justice of India BR Gavai recently highlighted the dangers of digital threats, noting that “online harassment, cyberbullying, and deepfake imagery” pose significant risks, particularly to women and girls.

Ambastha emphasized that common citizens, especially female victims, are often unable to pursue legal action, leaving them vulnerable to the misuse of their online data, such as a single social media photo. As deepfakes grow more sophisticated, India’s need for a robust statutory framework to regulate AI and protect all citizens becomes increasingly critical.

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