Nagarjuna Wins Delhi HC’s Assurance Against Image Misuse and Fake Content
The Delhi High Court on Thursday assured that it would protect the personality rights of Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna.
Justice Tejas Karia was hearing Nagarjuna’s plea highlighting that his image and likeness were being misused without consent on social media platforms and in merchandise. The Court observed that such content could be taken down once specific URLs were identified. So far, 14 such links have been flagged.
Representing Nagarjuna, advocate Pravin Anand argued that while many other URLs exist, the flagged ones were the most objectionable. The Court remarked on the challenges of granting long-term injunctions given the enduring fame of public figures, but eventually agreed to issue an order protecting the actor’s rights.
Nagarjuna joins the growing list of celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, and Karan Johar, who have approached courts against unauthorised use of their personality rights. In some earlier cases, the courts even ordered the blocking of pornographic content and misuse of voices and images.
The actor’s counsel further warned that AI-generated content was now a serious threat, as morphed images and fake videos of Nagarjuna were being circulated online. Such material, once uploaded, could also be used to train AI models, worsening the problem.
The Court acknowledged this concern, noting that generative AI cannot distinguish between genuine and fake content, making such misuse even more damaging.
