Delhi High Court Orders Removal of Deepfake Videos and Content Violating Bhuvan Bam's Personality Rights
The Delhi High Court recently issued interim directions on a plea by content creator Bhuvan Bam seeking removal of infringing content, including deepfake videos, that continued to exploit his personality rights despite an earlier protective order.
The court held that a prima facie case was made out, restrained further unauthorised use of his persona, and directed online platforms to take down identified infringing content within 36 hours.
“I am of the view that Plaintiffs have established a prima facie case and balance of convenience also lies in favour of the Plaintiffs and in case the injunction sought is not granted, irreparable harm shall be caused to the Plaintiffs as also to innocent members of the public,” Justice Jyoti Singh held.
Bam moved the Court stating that despite an earlier order protecting his personality rights, violations had continued. He submitted that his image, voice, and characters portrayed on screen were being exploited without authorisation across platforms.
He pointed to deepfake and infringing videos as well as unauthorised commercial listings on e-commerce websites.
The earlier order dated January 13, 2026 restrained defendants from exploiting the plaintiff's name, images and characters portrayed by him on screen and from selling merchandise using the registered trademarks “BB Ki Vines (Bhuvan Bam)” and “BB Ki Vines.”
The present application was filed after fresh and continuing instances of alleged violations came to light.
During the hearing, some defendants objected to the takedown of certain URLs, arguing that the content fell within exceptions such as parody and caricature. The court recorded that this issue would be considered on the next date of hearing.
At this stage, the court directed that the unknown defendant shall remain restrained from creating, publishing, communicating or circulating any content or merchandise that infringes Bam's personality and publicity rights or the plaintiffs' trademark and copyright.
The court also directed Google LLC, Flipkart, Spotify India, Meta Platforms, BeeTrendy, and Swag Shirts to take down specific infringing URLs identified in the suit within 36 hours of receiving the order and to file compliance affidavits thereafter.
The matter is listed for further hearing on August 3, 2026.
For Bhuvan Bam: Advocates Saurabh Seth, Shantanu Agarwal, Chandreyee Maitra, Allaka M., Raghav Thareja, Vineeth Penmetsa, Neelampreet Kaur and Kabir
For Defendants: Advocate Garvit Khandelwal for D-2; Advocates Brinda Nagaraja and Angad Singh Makkar for D-7; CGSC Ripudaman Bhardwaj for UoI; Advocate Aditya Gupta for Google LLC; Advocate Manas Raghuvanshi for Amazon; Advocates Varun Pathak, Sana Banyal and Komal Pathak for Meta Platforms Inc; Advocates Mishthi Dubey and Abhay Aren for Meesho.