Delhi High Court orders removal of deepfake videos of CM Rekha Gupta

Providing significant relief to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the Delhi High Court has ordered the removal of deepfake images and videos created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) from social media. The matter pertained to the protection of the Chief Minister's reputation, dignity, and personality rights. The court has ordered the immediate removal of six URLs containing content depicting the Chief Minister as a liquor vendor.

The case was heard by a single-judge bench of Justice Manoj Jain. Advocate Sameer Rohatgi, representing Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, argued in court that if the matter was not heard urgently and necessary interim orders were not passed, the plaintiff's reputation would suffer serious damage. He stated that the AI-generated images and videos are continuously available and are going viral very rapidly.

Advocate Sameer Rohatgi drew the court's attention to the fact that in this deepfake content, the Chief Minister has been depicted as a liquor vendor, a hawker, and a delivery agent. He argued that such content is causing severe damage to the Chief Minister's image, reputation, and dignity. Furthermore, he emphasised that this objectionable content is being spread through the social media accounts of certified political parties, including accounts of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Rohatgi further stated that if there is a delay in taking action on this matter, these images and videos will be shared and circulated on a large scale, rendering any future relief ineffective. Considering these arguments, the court passed an interim order and directed the removal of objectionable posts from social media to provide immediate relief against their continuous spread.

In this lawsuit, the Chief Minister has sought a permanent ban on the creation and dissemination of synthetic media and fake images and videos. Additionally, a demand has been made to remove all such previously available content and all its copies. There is also a demand to identify the unknown persons who created and spread this content through platform records.

The Chief Minister's application seeks the preservation of prompts, source files, and metadata used to create the AI content. Along with this, it has been demanded that the responsible parties issue a public apology and pay compensation of ₹2,00,10,000. This entire case raises important questions regarding the protection of individual rights and reputation in the era of AI.

According to reports so far, the court has clarified that insulting a woman Chief Minister is not political satire. The order makes it clear that no one's dignity can be compromised in the name of political differences. A strict stance has been adopted against the allegedly defamatory content spread by the Aam Aadmi Party's social media.