Delhi HC Orders Social Media Platforms to Act on Salman Khan’s Personality Rights Plea, Stops Unauthorised Merchandise

The Delhi High Court on Thursday, December 11, 2025, directed several social media intermediaries to treat Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s plea seeking protection of his personality rights as a formal complaint under the Information Technology Rules and to take action within three days.

The order was passed by Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, who issued the direction while hearing Khan’s plea, which asks the Court to restrain social media platforms, websites and online sellers from using his name, pictures, voice or any element of his identity without his consent.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Khan, submitted that Apple, an AI chatbot, and several e-commerce platforms have facilitated the misuse of the actor’s personality rights. He further took exception to fan accounts circulating digitally altered images of Khan without his consent.

After considering the submissions, the Court said it would issue an interim order against those platforms and sellers that are not social media intermediaries but are allegedly offering unauthorised merchandise featuring Khan’s image or likeness.

The Bench also reminded Khan’s counsel about its earlier ruling in the NTR Junior personality rights matter, in which parties had been directed to first approach the relevant social media platforms before moving the Court.

In his petition, Khan has argued that such misuse not only infringes upon his personality and publicity rights, but also creates confusion among the public and allows others to profit from exploiting his image.

The petition comes just two days after actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Junior, popularly known as NTR Jr, moved a similar plea before the same bench, alleging unauthorised commercial use of his name, image and persona on digital platforms.

In that matter, the bench had directed social media intermediaries and online marketplaces to treat the suit as a formal complaint under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and to take appropriate action within three days.

Khan’s plea adds to a growing number of petitions filed by public figures seeking to curb the rampant misuse and monetisation of their likeness, voice and image online.

In recent months, actors Hrithik Roshan, Nagarjuna and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as well as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sudhir Chaudhary, Abhishek Bachchan and Karan Johar, have all approached the Delhi High Court alleging violations of their personality rights.

Case Title: Salman Khan v. Ashok Kumar v. Ors

Bench: Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora

Hearing Date: 11 December 2025