In a significant move to safeguard personality and digital identity rights, the Delhi High Court on October 10 granted an interim injunction in favor of journalist and DD News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary, directing the removal of AI-generated and misleading videos about him from social media within 48 hours.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, while passing the order, noted that apart from the links already mentioned in the suit, Chaudhary intended to submit additional URLs linked to deepfake videos on YouTube.

“Injunction granted; we will give it for name Sudhir Chaudhary, image, likeness and voice,” the Court said, extending full protection to Chaudhary’s personality rights.

The Court directed that Chaudhary shall serve a copy of the order on the defendant entities and Google LLC, and those entities must take down all infringing links within 48 hours. In case of non-compliance, Google LLC (defendant no. 2) was instructed to ensure removal.

Additionally, the Court ordered that Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) of the defendants be provided within three weeks, and issued summons in the main suit. Chaudhary has been directed to file an amended memo of parties once the identities of the unknown defendants are revealed.

The Court clarified that Google and Meta were not issued summons at this stage as they are not contesting parties, but allowed Chaudhary to notify social media platforms of any identical or infringing content, which must also be taken down within 48 hours.

Represented by Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao and Advocate Rudrali Patil, Chaudhary argued that several AI-generated and unauthorized videos had been circulating, falsely attributing statements and visuals to him. Rao informed the Court that additional links would be submitted with an affidavit by October 20, and requested that the injunction be extended to cover these as well.

Chaudhary’s plea seeks protection of his name, image, likeness, and voice against deepfake misuse and defamation on social media platforms.

Notably, similar interim protections have recently been granted by the Delhi High Court in favor of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Telugu actor Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and film producer Karan Johar in comparable personality rights and deepfake cases.

Case Title: Sudhir Chaudhary v. Meta Platforms & Ors