HC orders social media platforms to take down AI-deepfakes of Samantha Ruth Prabhu

A single-judge bench of Justice Milind Jadhav observed that Prabhu had made out a “very strong prima facie” case for granting interim relief and protection of her personality rights

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed social media platforms to take down objectionable content featuring actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu, including AI-generated deepfakes, fake pornography, merchandise and advertisements that allegedly used her name, image, likeness and other aspects of her identity without permission.

HC orders social media platforms to take down AI-deepfakes of Samantha Ruth Prabhu

A single-judge bench of Justice Milind Jadhav observed that Prabhu had made out a “very strong prima facie” case for granting interim relief and protection of her personality rights.

“The material on record clearly shows that the plaintiff’s personality rights, publicity rights, and moral rights are violated by creation of morphed, deepfake and superimposed contents comprising the morphed image, photographs and videos,” the court said. “Her personality rights and publicity rights are protected by Article 19(1)(a) (right to freedom of speech and expression) of the Constitution of India.”

The court added that the right to life and personal liberty, including the right to privacy, are protected by Article 21 of the Constitution of India, and that the actor’s right to live with dignity has been affected by the AI-generated deepfakes. “Consequently, her moral rights under the Copyright Act have also been prejudicially affected”, the bench observed.

Prabhu had sought permanent court orders restraining social media platforms such as Facebook and Google from hosting or publishing the allegedly unauthorised content. She also sought orders against Amazon for hosting third-party listings, traders for using her photographs and other aspects of her persona to sell products, and pornographic websites.

Prabhu said that she had discovered numerous AI-generated deepfake videos, manipulated photographs, AI-generated voice simulations, chatbot personas, merchandise, and other digital content that used her personality traits without her consent. Some of the content was allegedly misleading, defamatory, explicit or otherwise objectionable, causing harm to her dignity, reputation and goodwill, she argued.

During the hearing, the court relied on its order passed in a similar case concerning actors Preity Zinta and Shruti Haasan, and questioned the defendants what legal provision required them to act against such content. “What’s the provision that casts duty on you?” the court asked, noting that the case pertained to the protection of the fundamental right to privacy.

The defendants, however, said they were not contesting the reliefs sought and were already in the process of checking the posts and content in question. Accordingly, the court granted interim relief to Prabhu. It directed the defendants to file their affidavits within six weeks and continued the ad-interim relief until further orders.