Delhi High Court Protects Swami Ramdev's Personality Rights, Restrains AI Deepfakes

The Delhi High Court has recently granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of yoga guru Swami Ramdev, restraining the unauthorised use of his name, voice, image, likeness and distinctive style in AI-generated deepfakes, fabricated endorsements and other commercial content.

In an order dated February 18, 2026, Justice Jyoti Singh held that Ramdev had made out a prima facie case. The Court observed that the material placed on record showed exploitation of his personality rights.

The Court noted that Ramdev is “a known and renowned personality in the fields of yoga and ayurvedic medicine, in India and abroad” and that, owing to his contributions, he “has earned a formidable goodwill and reputation.”

On examining the impugned content, including AI-generated videos and altered images, the Court observed:

“The unauthorized creation and circulation of deepfake videos and social media webpages depicting the Plaintiff as endorsing products, cures or medicines with which Plaintiff has no association, in my prima facie view constitutes misappropriation and exploitation of his goodwill, amounting to passing off.”

The Court further recorded that some of the digitally created publications “contain statements or messages, endorsements in Plaintiff's name, likeness and voice, which affect his public image and may tarnish his credibility and undermine the trust reposed in him.”

It added that the misinformation had wider implications:

“It is a plausible contention that some of the infringing content which falsely projects that Plaintiff is endorsing medicines or health-related products and/or giving advice, can be detrimental not only to his reputation but the misinformation can lead to serious and adverse consequences to public interest, if the members of the public were to believe the endorsements or buy the products and/or follow the advice.”

Ramdev had submitted that he discovered “extensive and continuing instances of unauthorized digital use and misrepresentation as also exploitation of his name, image, likeness and persona across multiple online platforms,” including YouTube, Facebook and e-commerce websites.

He contended that AI-generated and fabricated content was being used to deceive the public into believing that he endorses certain products.

The Court also took note of specific instances, including a video uploaded on YouTube “showing Plaintiff endorsing a liquor brand,” observing that such modified depictions ridiculed and trivialised his persona.

During the hearing, counsel for X Corp argued that several URLs constituted satire, parody and lampooning, which are “permissible facets of freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution,” and submitted that some posts were merely “a commentary on these newsworthy events of public importance” concerning Ramdev's past statements on allopathic medicine.

Meta Platforms submitted that a global blocking injunction could not be granted since that issue is pending before a Division Bench of the High Court. Baba Ramdev stated that he was not pressing for a global injunction at this stage and would restrict the relief sought within India.

Holding that the balance of convenience lay in Ramdev's favour and that he would suffer irreparable harm otherwise, the Court restrained the defendants from using his name, voice, image, likeness or unique style for commercial or personal gain. The order expressly covers AI-generated content, deepfake videos, voice-cloned audio and metaverse environments.

The Court also restrained the defendants from importing, manufacturing, selling or advertising goods or services using his persona in a manner amounting to passing off, dilution or copyright infringement.

Specific directions were issued to Google (YouTube), Amazon India, Meta Platforms, X Corp and Pinterest to take down, disable and block identified URLs within 72 hours of receipt of the order. The Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology were also directed to issue necessary directions to disable and block certain URLs.

The matter is listed next on March 12, 2026.