Bombay High Court protects an actor's personality rights against deepfakes and reminds intermediaries of their due diligence duty

9 October 2026

Justice Madhav Jamdar of the Bombay High Court has passed an interim order protecting the personality rights of actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu in Interim Application (L) 29905 of 2026.
The Court directed Google, Meta Platforms, other social media platforms and unidentified John Doe parties to take down objectionable and derogatory content featuring her.
It found a very strong prima facie case for interim relief.
The Court held that her personality and privacy rights under Article 19(1)(a) and Article 21 of the Constitution appear to be violated, particularly by morphed and deepfake images.
It also held that her moral rights as a performer, protected under the Copyright Act, are being violated.
Justice Jamdar reminded Google of its duty under Rule 3 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
He said intermediaries must exercise due diligence to prevent online harassment and the unauthorised uploading of a person's images or videos.
Advocate Rashmin Khandekar appeared for the applicant, and the matter will be heard further.