New Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Saturday granted interim protection to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in his plea against alleged AI-generated deepfake videos, observing that he holds enforceable personality and publicity rights over all identifiable aspects of his persona.

Justice Mini Pushkarna, hearing Tharoor’s civil suit seeking protection of his image and reputation, held that a prima facie case had been established and restrained unidentified individuals from creating, publishing or circulating synthetic media using his identity through artificial intelligence or related technologies.

The court directed X to remove specific links containing the disputed content and instructed Meta to ensure that the identified Instagram URLs, which had already been blocked, remain inaccessible.

The court also ordered both platforms to disclose the identities and subscriber details of those who allegedly uploaded or created the content within three weeks.

Tharoor had approached the court seeking a permanent injunction against the alleged misuse of his personality, voice, likeness and public image through AI-generated deepfake videos.

During the hearing, senior advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for Tharoor, argued that fabricated videos created using artificial intelligence had allegedly replicated the Congress leader’s face, voice, vocabulary and speaking style, falsely portraying him making politically sensitive remarks.

According to the suit, the manipulated videos caused significant damage to his public image and credibility.

The court recorded that Tharoor, who previously served as an Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations and as India’s minister of state for external affairs, has built substantial goodwill and public trust over decades of public life.

In its interim observations, the court noted that Tharoor’s reputation, name, image, voice, mannerisms, oratorical style and other distinctive attributes are uniquely associated with him and form part of his legally protected personality.

The High Court further observed that personality and publicity rights are protected under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Pending further proceedings, the court restrained the defendants, identified as “Ashok Kumar/John Doe” and associated persons, from reproducing, imitating or using any aspect of Tharoor’s identity to create deepfakes, voice-cloned audio or morphed videos through AI, generative AI or machine-learning technologies.

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The matter has been listed before the Joint Registrar on July 13 and before the court on October 13, 2026.