Delhi High Court to Pass Takedown Orders Against Shashi Tharoor Deepfake Videos

The Delhi High Court on Friday said it would pass orders to remove deepfake videos falsely showing Congress MP Shashi Tharoor praising Pakistan. The matter came up before Justice Mini Pushkarna, who also issued summons to the Central government and social media platforms including Meta and X on Tharoor’s plea seeking protection of his personality rights.

The Court observed that blocking orders would be passed against the offending content. It directed all respondents to file their replies within four weeks.

In his suit, Tharoor alleged that unknown individuals had launched a malicious online campaign using artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to create highly realistic deepfake videos. According to the plea, the manipulated videos cloned his face, voice, language style, and expressions to falsely portray him making statements in favour of Pakistan.

The petition stated that the fabricated clips showed him allegedly saying that “Pakistan is faring much better diplomatically than India” and describing Pakistan’s diplomatic strategy as “absolute brilliance.” Tharoor claimed that he never made such remarks.

The Congress leader argued that the deepfakes were realistic enough to mislead the public, political figures, and even foreign journalists. He said the circulation of such content had caused serious damage to his reputation and public standing while also resulting in mental distress and harassment.

The plea further claimed that the campaign began during the recently concluded Kerala elections and was intended to harm his patriotic image and influence public opinion. Tharoor contended that the misinformation drive was a deliberate attempt to interfere with the democratic process.

Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for Tharoor, argued before the Court that such deepfakes could have wider consequences beyond personal reputation. He submitted that foreign governments could misuse such fabricated videos and that repeated uploads continued despite complaints and fact-checks.

Sibal told the Court that the fake videos “keep coming back like ten heads of Ravana” and warned that they could also affect India’s international image because Tharoor had earlier served as Minister of State for External Affairs.

During the hearing, counsel appearing for Meta informed the Court that several Instagram links identified by Tharoor had already been removed and were no longer accessible. The Court nevertheless proceeded to issue summons and indicated that formal takedown directions would follow.

The suit was filed through advocate Nikhil Narendran, while advocate Tine Abraham also appeared for Tharoor.