Personality Rights Protection: How Bollywood Celebrities Fight Deepfakes and What It Means for Everyone

Celebrities have sought protection against AI-generated content and deepfakes

New Delhi:

Several Bollywood celebrities including Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hritik Roshan, and Karan Johar have approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of their personality rights. They aim to prevent individuals or businesses from using their personality, image and voices without consent for commercial gains.

These celebrities are also requesting protection against AI-generated content and deepfakes that use their images and voices to spread misleading news and stories about them.

Here's an overview of content regulation challenges in India, current laws protecting personality rights, and why this matters to everyone.

Why The Delhi High Court?

While Akshay Kumar and Asha Bhosle recently filed similar petitions in the Bombay High Court, most celebrities are approaching the Delhi High Court despite residing in Mumbai.

Mimansa Ambastha, a Delhi-based technology and privacy law expert, explained to NDTV that personality rights lack statutory protection in India, forcing celebrities to seek judicial protection for controlling commercial use of their identity and preventing improper use of their likeness and brand.

"The Delhi High Court has become the preferred venue for most celebrities due to several previous landmark judgments that established precedent for recognizing and enforcing personality rights," Ambastha stated.

Not only was the Delhi High Court first to acknowledge these rights, but it has also issued numerous notable orders ensuring quick removal of deepfakes, AI-generated content, and fraudulent social media accounts.

While various high courts across India have intellectual property rights divisions, the Delhi High Court and Madras High Court were pioneers in establishing dedicated wings. This naturally provides more precedents from past judgments, potentially ensuring faster relief.

Legal Framework For Content Regulation

Content regulation globally has entered a new phase with generative AI advancements and deepfake proliferation.

"Deepfakes disproportionately target celebrities and are increasingly used to create fake news, morph faces into sexually explicit content, and even recreate works of deceased artists by misusing their face, voice, and likeness," explained Ambastha, who specializes in privacy and intellectual property protection.

"Currently, existing Indian laws and regulations such as the IT Act are invoked to remove deepfakes. Relevant provisions include section 66C (identity theft), section 66D (impersonation), section 66E (privacy violation), sections 67, 67A and 67B (obscene or sexually explicit content), and intermediary rules mandating takedown of fake and misleading information within specific timeframes," she noted.

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act of 2023, whose rules are still pending, may also apply since using someone's digital personal data to create deepfakes without consent constitutes a violation. However, enforcing this against unknown perpetrators remains challenging.

The Centre has also issued directives requiring platforms to identify and remove deepfakes and other misinformation.

Implications For Ordinary Citizens

While celebrities pursue legal remedies, it's crucial to recognize that deepfakes and unregulated AI content can equally harm any individual who shares data online, even if it's merely a photo on social media.

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai has warned about threats posed by evolving technology.

"The threats faced by girls are no longer confined to physical spaces; they extend into the vast and often unregulated digital world," Chief Justice Gavai remarked at an event on girls' rights. "From online harassment, cyberbullying, and digital stalking to misuse of personal data and deepfake imagery, the challenges have evolved in both scale and sophistication."

Ambastha, who handles such cases regularly, agreed that deepfake dangers remain significant.

"While celebrities may rely on personality rights to combat deepfakes, ordinary internet users remain vulnerable and unlikely to approach courts for removing deepfakes, particularly female victims," she observed.

India needs focused and targeted measures to address deepfakes, beginning with a specialized statutory framework, she emphasized.

Many countries have begun enacting AI-specific legislation. Highlighting the necessity for such dedicated laws in India, Ambastha pointed to European Union regulations like the AI Act as examples of nations recognizing the need to regulate manipulated content.

The EU has implemented policies outright banning malicious deepfakes and mandating disclosures for legitimate usage of such technology.