Delhi High Court Orders Takedown Of AI Deepfakes Misappropriating Shashi Tharoor's Personality Rights
The Delhi High Court on Friday granted an interim injunction to Congress MP and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor, restraining unknown parties from using artificial intelligence and related technologies to create and circulate deepfake videos falsely attributing politically sensitive statements to him.
Justice Mini Pushkarna on May 8 directed X (formerly Twitter) to forthwith take down and block access to the infringing content identified in the suit while directing Meta to ensure that the Instagram URLs already made inaccessible remain so.
Both platforms were also directed to disclose details of those behind the infringing accounts.
The order came in a personality rights suit filed by Tharoor seeking a permanent injunction to restrain misappropriation of his personality and publicity rights, impersonation, passing off, and unauthorized publication of synthetically generated content, including deepfakes.
Tharoor discovered in March 2026 that unknown parties had used AI and machine learning tools to clone his face, voice, vocabulary, and mannerisms to produce hyper-realistic audio-visual deepfakes falsely depicting him making statements such as “Pakistan is faring much better diplomatically than India” and praising Pakistan's diplomatic strategies as “absolute brilliance.”
The timing was particularly damaging as Tharoor was actively campaigning for the Kerala Legislative Assembly elections in March and early April 2026, according to the suit.
The videos spread rapidly through algorithmic amplification and re-sharing on X and Meta platforms despite being debunked by India Today, PTI, and independent fact-checking agency D-Intent Data.
Tharoor's counsel, Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, argued that given Tharoor's standing as a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, former Minister of State for External Affairs, and Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, any statement attributed to him on foreign diplomacy carries immense geopolitical weight.
The deepfakes, he argued, not only misappropriated Tharoor's personality rights but also jeopardised his institutional integrity and amounted to identity theft and forgery under Section 66C of the Information Technology Act and Sections 335 and 340 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The court found a prima facie case in Tharoor's favour, observing: “The plaintiff is a respected and recognised public figure and accordingly, enjoys personality rights / publicity rights over all facets of his personality. Thus, the plaintiff has exclusive control over the utilization of his personality. No one can utilize and/or misappropriate and/or imitate any facet of the plaintiff‟s personality, and/or exploit the same deceptively, or in any manner whatsoever, without the express consent/authorization of the plaintiff."
It further noted, "It is no more res intergra that personality rights/publicity rights are protectable under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950.”
By way of interim relief, the court restrained the unknown parties and those acting through them from using Tharoor's name, likeness, voice, signature oratorical style, vocabulary, or other attributes to create, publish, or disseminate synthetic media, deepfakes, voice-cloned audio, or morphed videos through AI, generative AI, machine learning, or any other technology.
X was directed to forthwith take down and block access to the identified infringing post on its platform.
Meta, whose counsel informed the court that the Instagram URLs listed in the plaint had already been made inaccessible that morning, was directed to ensure they continue to remain inaccessible.
Both platforms were also directed to provide Tharoor within three weeks the complete identity, registration particulars, Basic Subscriber Information, IP login details, phone numbers, and email addresses of the uploaders, creators, and registrants of the infringing accounts and URLs.
The matter is next listed before the court on October 13, 2026.
For Shashi Tharoor: Senior Advocate Amit Sibal with Advocates Tine Abraham, Pundrikaksh Mitruka, Vivek Krishnani, Ramayni Sood, Ankit Handa, Darpan Sachdeva, Nikhil Narenoran and Kuruvila Jacob
For Defendants: Advocates Amee Rana with Nitya Nath and Komal Pathak for defendant no. 3; CGSC Rukhmini Bobde with GP Manish Rawat, Advocates Vinayak Aren, Aishwarya Nigam, Shrishti Singh and Abhishek Mohanpuria for defendant nos. 4 and 5.