Shruti Haasan Wins Interim Relief Against AI Deepfakes; Bombay HC Protects Her Personality and Publicity Rights

Shruti Haasan has taken a firm legal stand against the unauthorised use and manipulation of her image through artificial intelligence, and the Bombay High Court has now granted the actor interim relief in the matter. The Court has directed the takedown of content flagged by Haasan and recognised the serious and potentially irreversible impact of AI-generated deepfakes on an individual’s reputation and public image.

Haasan had approached the Court seeking protection of her personality and publicity rights, which she alleged were being violated through AI-generated deepfakes, manipulated videos, unauthorised commercial endorsements and unlicensed merchandise using her image and likeness without permission.

Justice Madhav Jamdar observed that the continued dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes, manipulated images, chatbots and other infringing content had caused and continued to cause “irreparable injury” to Haasan’s goodwill, reputation and commercial interests. The Court noted that such injury cannot be adequately compensated through monetary damages alone, as once deepfake content is disseminated online, it is capable of “unlimited replication and circulation”, resulting in the permanent dilution of a person’s personality rights and public image.

The Bench also highlighted the constitutional backing of personality, publicity and privacy rights. It held that the creation of morphed, deepfake and superimposed images, photographs and videos violated Haasan’s personality, publicity and moral rights. The Court noted that these rights are protected under Article 19(1)(a), while the right to life and personal liberty, including privacy and the right to live with dignity, are protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It consequently found a “very strong prima facie case” in Haasan’s favour.

Haasan had instituted the suit last month against multiple entities involved in creating, hosting and distributing unauthorised content featuring her persona. Several respondents failed to appear or file a defence despite being given sufficient time, following which the Court granted an ad-interim injunction against them.

Meanwhile, counsel representing some defendants assured the Court that infringing content hosted on their platforms would be removed promptly upon receiving legible URLs from Haasan’s legal team.

Haasan was represented by advocates Rashmin Khandekar, Ameet Naik, Madhu Gadodia, Aman Saraf, Malabika and Unnati Gambani of Anand & Naik.