Delhi High Court Steps In As Fake AI Videos Target Shashi Tharoor

The Delhi High Court on Friday said it would issue an interim order to protect Shashi Tharoor’s personality and publicity rights. The case involves alleged deepfake videos and AI-generated content.

The material falsely depicted the Congress leader praising Pakistan and circulated widely across digital platforms.

Justice Mini Pushkarna issued a summons on Shashi Tharoor’s plea. She directed the Central government and social media intermediaries, including Meta and X, to file their replies within four weeks.

While dictating the order, the judge indicated that interim relief would be granted in line with the injunction requests filed in the petition.

Senior advocate Amit Sibal, representing Tharoor, argued that several fabricated videos falsely attributed politically sensitive statements to the Congress MP. He stated that the content posed a serious threat to Tharoor’s reputation and India’s international standing.

Sibal informed the court that despite repeated complaints under the Information Technology Rules, the same manipulated videos repeatedly resurfaced through different URLs. He stressed that fact-checking organisations had already established the videos as fake, yet many viewers continued believing them to be authentic.

The counsel further argued that misuse of Tharoor’s image, likeness, and identity could carry diplomatic consequences because of his stature as a public figure and former Union Minister. He claimed that coordinated misinformation campaigns attempted to damage Tharoor’s patriotic image and influence public perception.

Meta informed the court that certain disputed links were already unavailable on its platforms.

Tharoor’s legal team, however, maintained that similar content continued reappearing through newly generated links.

The case adds to a growing number of legal actions involving prominent public personalities. They are seeking judicial protection against unauthorised AI-generated impersonations and digital misuse of identity.

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