Delhi/Hyderabad, May 8 (Maxim News): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday filed a complaint in the Delhi High Court against the publication of an AI-generated deepfake video purporting to praise Pakistan and speak on such “politically sensitive” issues.
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Justice Mini Pushkarna has issued summons to social media platform X, Metaplatform and the Center in connection with the case of the Thiruvananthapuram MP and current chairperson of the Standing Committee on External Affairs, and is willing to pass an interim order in his favor.
Tharoor’s lawyer Amit Sibal argued that unidentified groups have repeatedly published fake videos using his face, voice and other personality attributes, which should be removed.
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A senior lawyer argued that the videos tarnish Tharoor’s reputation as a patriot and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. “Even though India Today and PTI have published that these are fake videos, the public continues to have the impression that the videos are real and authentic,” he said.
“I am a former foreign minister. This is also important for India’s standing… It can be misused by foreign countries,” Sibal said, adding that even though the authorities had removed some violative URLs following complaints lodged with Tharoor and the police under IT rules, the content kept resurfacing.
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Sibal stressed that Tharoor is a public figure whose reputation has been damaged by such deepfake videos. Meta’s lawyers reported that the offending content on Instagram was made inaccessible this morning.
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.
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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 have weaponized artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to produce highly realistic audio and video 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.
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“Significantly, the disinformation campaign was particularly pernicious as the complainant was actively campaigning for the 2026 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections in March and early April. It was a deliberate attempt to smear the complainant’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, and journalist Sudhir Chaudha. Several celebrities, including Lee, podcaster Raj Shermani and Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, have previously approached the high court seeking protection of their moral and publicity rights. 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. (Maxim News)
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