The Delhi High Court has directed X to protect MP Shashi Tharoor’s moral rights and remove an AI-generated deepfake video purportedly praising Pakistan’s diplomacy.
Justice Mini Pushkarna, in an interim order passed on Tharoor’s case, also prohibited the creation and publication of deepfakes, voice-cloned voices, morphing videos, etc., exploiting the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s name, image, distinctive voice, “distinctive oratory cadence and style of speaking”, “highly sophisticated vocabulary” and other aspects of his persona, for commercial, political or malicious purposes, whether physical or virtual. Medium.
The court also required Mehta to continue to prevent access to certain offending Reels on Instagram that it had made inaccessible.
Tharoor previously filed a lawsuit in court against the repeated publication of deepfake videos of him allegedly making “politically sensitive” statements. His senior lawyer argued that these contents not only damaged his reputation but also affected India’s international standing.
Justice Pushkarna said in an interim order that Mr. Tharoor is a “respected and recognized public figure” who has “exclusive control” over the use of his persona and that the misuse of any attributes of that persona without his express permission and the consequent damage to his reputation may be restrained.
“It is no longer a vested right that moral rights/rights of publicity are protected under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950. The reputation, goodwill, name, appearance/image/likeness, voice, manners, style, characteristic style of speech, and other attributes of the plaintiff are uniquely identifiable and associated with the plaintiff. They are the same as the plaintiff’s “personality” and on which the plaintiff is based. enjoys sole and exclusive control,” the court said.
“Defendant 1 (Ashok Kumar/John Doe) is prohibited from copying, misusing, or imitating any aspect of Plaintiff’s persona, including, but not limited to, (i) name, (ii) physical resemblance and image, (iii) distinctive voice, (iv) distinctive oratory cadence and delivery style, and (v) highly sophisticated vocabulary, to create, publish, or distribute synthetic media. Generative AI, Deepfakes, voice cloning audio or morphing videos on any physical or virtual medium using AI, machine learning or other technologies. Defendant No. 2 is directed to immediately remove and block access to the following links available on its platform ‘X’:
The court further clarified that if a “false, forged or infringing video” is posted, Tharoor is free to ask social media platforms to take it down.
It also asked the social media platform to provide Tharoor with the complete identity, registration details, basic subscriber information, IP login details, phone numbers and email addresses of the uploaders, creators and registrants of the infringing accounts within three weeks.
In the lawsuit, Tharoor said that around March 2026, he discovered a “sophisticated malicious campaign orchestrated by unknown infringers” across social media platforms where he was maliciously portrayed as making politically sensitive statements praising Pakistan.
Tharoor was represented by senior counsel Amit Sibal and law firm Trilegal.
The lawsuit alleges that the unauthorized cloning and misappropriation of Tharoor’s likeness, voice and mannerisms violates his moral and publicity rights and constitutes a serious violation of his privacy rights.
“These infringers, armed with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, produced highly realistic audiovisual deepfakes by replicating Plaintiff’s face, voice, vocabulary, and mannerisms. These fabricated videos maliciously depict Plaintiff making politically sensitive statements that she never made,” the petition states.
“Importantly, the disinformation campaign was particularly damaging as the plaintiff was actively campaigning for the 2026 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections in March and early April. It was a deliberate attempt to smear the plaintiff’s patriotic credentials, manipulate public perception, and unlawfully interfere with the democratic electoral process,” it added.
Actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Cho Several celebrities have filed suit in the high court seeking protection of their moral and publicity rights, including Mr. Dalli, podcaster Raj Shermani, and Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan. The High Court granted them interim relief.
Recently, the High Court granted interim relief and also protected the moral rights of cricketer Gautam Gambhir and actors Sonakshi Sinha, Vivek Oberoi and Allu Arjun.
