AI Deepfakes: Court Grants Raj Shamani Relief Against Misuse of His Identity
The Delhi High Court on Monday protected the personality rights of well-known podcaster and entrepreneur Raj Shamani, who had approached the Court complaining about the misuse of his identity through AI-generated content and unauthorised promotions.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed an injunction restraining social media pages, websites and other online platforms from using Shamani’s name, image, voice or any other personal attribute for commercial purposes without his permission.
However, the Court made it clear that it would not stop parody or satire at this stage. Justice Arora observed that mixing parody content with allegations of commercial misuse could complicate the trial. She clarified that if Shamani wants action against parody or satirical posts, he must file a separate case.
Senior Advocate Diya Kapur, appearing for Shamani, told the Court that he hosts the popular podcast “Figuring Out” and regularly interacts with celebrities. She explained that several deepfake videos, misleading AI-generated endorsements, and fake chatbots have been circulating online. Many of these falsely suggest that Shamani is promoting products or giving investment advice.
Kapur also pointed out that unauthorised Telegram channels were pretending to be run by Shamani and were even soliciting money through crypto schemes. Some websites claim that they can “arrange” Shamani for promotions, while certain channels have used his content for adult-oriented material without permission. She argued that such misuse harms his reputation and business.
The plaint stated that the defendants are publishing manipulated videos, deepfakes and morphed clips for commercial gain by exploiting Shamani’s goodwill. This not only misleads the public but also affects Shamani’s control over the commercial value of his own identity.
The Court said it was not inclined to pass any order regarding hashtags using his name, or memes that mock him. Justice Arora suggested that concerns about such memes or hashtags can be taken up in a separate proceeding.
Meanwhile, advocate Madhav Khosla, representing Telegram, said that some of the takedown requests were too broad, but confirmed that Telegram would remove certain chatbots that falsely claimed to represent Shamani.
Raj Shamani was represented by Senior Advocate Diya Kapur along with advocates Nakul Gandhi, Mujeeb, Tanish Gupta, Siddhi Sahoo, Avi Kaushik, Raghav Kumar and Aditya Ladha.
