Trilegal Assists In Takedown Of Deepfake Content Against Shashi Tharoor Before Delhi High Court
High Court has passed an interim order in a civil suit filed by Tharoor seeking enforcement of personality and publicity rights.
The Delhi High Court has directed social media intermediaries, including Meta and X, to immediately remove and block defamatory AI-generated deepfake videos falsely depicting Congress MP Dr. Shashi Tharoor making statements praising Pakistan’s diplomatic strategy and foreign policy.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna passed an interim injunction on Friday restraining the unauthorised use, reproduction, imitation or manipulation of Tharoor’s name, image, likeness, voice, signature speaking style, mannerisms and distinctive vocabulary for the creation or dissemination of deepfakes, morphed videos, synthetic audio or other fabricated digital content.
Notably, Trilegal team, led by Partners Nikhil Narendran and Tine Abraham, are representing Tharoor in a civil suit filed before the Delhi High Court, seeking a permanent injunction restraining the misappropriation of his personality and publicity rights, and take-down of certain deepfake videos which impersonated Dr. Tharoor and falsely depicted him making politically sensitive comments, without authorisation.
The proceedings arise from the circulation of multiple deepfake videos across prominent social media platforms. Although several of these videos had previously been removed following action initiated by Tharoor, the impugned content continued to reappear online through different URLs and accounts. Despite being debunked by credible fact-checking agencies, the videos posed a serious threat to Tharoor’s reputation and public standing by falsely attributing politically sensitive statements to him.
Appearing alongside Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, Tine Abraham successfully secured wide-ranging interim reliefs protecting Tharoor’s personality rights, including: (a) directions for the immediate take-down of the impugned deepfake videos; (b) a dynamic injunction enabling Dr. Tharoor to seek prompt removal of any similar deepfake content resurfacing online; and (c) directions requiring disclosure of the identities and registration particulars of the uploaders/creators, including IP login details, Basic Subscriber Information (BSI), and other available contact information, within a stipulated timeline.
The Trilegal team, led by Partners Tine Abraham and Nikhil Narendran, are representing Dr. Shashi Tharoor in a civil suit filed before the Delhi High Court, seeking, among other things, a permanent injunction restraining the misappropriation of his personality and publicity rights, and take-down of certain deepfake videos which impersonated Dr. Tharoor and falsely depicted him making politically sensitive comments, without authorisation.
The Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Practice team and Disputes Resolution Practice team acting on the matter was led by Partner Nikhil Narendran and Tine Abraham, and comprised Senior Associates Kuruvila Jacob, Pundrikaksh Mitruka and Vivek Krishnani, and Associates Afifa Sultan and Akshobhya Nitin Pol.