Can AI Copyright Tools Be Manipulated? Delhi High Court Examines Suit Against Meta
The Delhi High Court issued summons in a commercial suit filed by financial educator Pushkar Raj Thakur, who alleged that Meta's Rights Manager was exploited through manipulated backdated copyright claims, resulting in the removal of his original content and causing significant financial and reputational losses
The Delhi High Court heard a commercial suit alleging that Meta's Rights Manager system was manipulated through fake backdated copyright claims, leading to the wrongful removal of a financial educator's original content
The Delhi High Court will hear a commercial suit filed by financial educator and entrepreneur Pushkar Raj Thakur, who has accused Meta Platforms Inc., Google LLC, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and others of enabling a sophisticated copyright fraud that allegedly resulted in the wrongful removal of his original content from social media platforms.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani has registered the plaint and issued summons in the matter.
Advocates Himanshu Goyal and Muskaan Garg appeared for Thakur.
During the proceedings, Meta informed the Court that it was conducting an internal investigation into the allegations and later assured the Court that Thakur's accounts would not be suspended or subjected to further copyright strikes pending the next hearing.
The company also undertook to restore the creator's removed videos, subject to him furnishing the relevant URLs.
"...the plaintiff's videos will not be taken down on grounds of copyright strikes till the next date of hearing... and the plaintiff's account will also not be closed... Defendant No. 2 would also ensure that the plaintiff's deleted videos are restored," the Court recorded while noting Meta's undertaking.
Alleged Manipulation of Meta's Copyright Tool
According to the suit, unknown entities allegedly exploited Meta's automated "Rights Manager" system by uploading unrelated content to Facebook pages and later replacing those posts with Thakur's newly published videos using Facebook's desktop "Edit Post" feature.
The plaintiff claims that because Facebook retained the original publication timestamp despite the edited content, the manipulated posts falsely appeared to have been published before his own content.
These allegedly backdated posts were then used to file copyright ownership claims, which Meta's automated system processed, resulting in at least 36 original videos being removed from his accounts.
Claims Against Meta
The suit alleges that Meta relied excessively on automated moderation without conducting adequate human verification, metadata checks or source authentication before issuing copyright strikes.
Ironically, while the platform allegedly acted on fraudulent copyright claims, the plaintiff claims Meta rejected his own request for access to the Rights Manager tool to protect his content.
The plaintiff has argued that Meta failed to implement safeguards capable of preventing manipulation of publication timestamps and fraudulent copyright claims despite being aware of vulnerabilities in its enforcement mechanism.
He further pointed out that the same videos removed by Meta continued to remain available on YouTube, suggesting deficiencies in Meta's copyright enforcement architecture.
Trademark Infringement Allegations
Apart from copyright issues, the suit also alleges widespread trademark infringement and impersonation across Telegram and YouTube, where fake channels allegedly used the registered "Pushkar Raj Thakur" brand to solicit investments and deceive users.
According to the plaintiff, the combined effect of the alleged copyright abuse and impersonation significantly reduced his visibility on social media, disrupted brand collaborations, affected subscriber engagement and caused reputational harm.
Seeking permanent and mandatory injunctions, the plaintiff has also sought removal of fraudulent accounts and URLs, restoration of the deleted content, and damages of approximately ₹2 crore for the financial and reputational losses allegedly suffered.
Meta is expected to continue assisting the Court while its internal inquiry into the alleged misuse of its copyright enforcement system remains underway.
Case Title: Pushkar Raj Thakur v. John Doe and Ors.
Bench: Justice Anup Jairam Bambani
Order Date: July 1, 2026