Personality Rights Row: Delhi HC Directs Social Media Platforms to Act on Pawan Kalyan’s Complaints

In a significant move reinforcing digital personality rights protection, the Delhi High Court has directed leading social media platforms including Meta, Google, and X to take expeditious action on complaints filed by Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, who alleged unauthorised and commercial misuse of his identity online.

The order was passed by Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, who noted that Kalyan’s grievance relates to repeated misuse of his name, photographs, likeness, and persona attributes across social media, e-commerce websites, and digital channels. The Court directed the intermediaries to decide on all takedown representations within one week, after the plaintiff supplies specific infringing URLs within two days.

Kalyan approached the Court alleging persistent online exploitation of his personality for commercial gain, merchandise sales, unauthorised endorsements, and impersonation-based content. Several pages and accounts, he said, were using his identity without permission.

Appearing for Pawan Kalyan, Senior Advocate J. Sai Deepak argued that multiple complaints were previously sent to the intermediaries, but their responses were insufficient and failed to curb the ongoing violations. He submitted that despite providing detailed notices, relying on earlier Delhi High Court precedents on celebrity personality rights, the platforms did not meaningfully address the impersonation, misuse, and unauthorised monetisation.

Justice Arora held that complaints issued under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 constitute statutory representations, which intermediaries are obligated to act upon within prescribed timelines. The Court reiterated that public figures, particularly constitutional functionaries and celebrities, possess distinct personality/publicity rights, which include the right to control how their image and identity are commercially utilised.

Since several infringing posts and merchandise listings continued to remain accessible, the Court directed:

• The plaintiff to supply all infringing links within two days.
• Intermediaries to decide on each representation within one week.
• Platforms to communicate specific objections, if any, to the plaintiff.

The matter is now listed for December 22, 2025.

The order adds to the Delhi High Court’s rapidly developing jurisprudence on digital personality rights, including recent decisions concerning Ajay Devgn, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and NTR Jr. The Court has consistently affirmed that unauthorised use of a celebrity’s identity, whether for profit, promotion, or impersonation, constitutes a violation actionable in law.

This order heightens accountability for digital intermediaries and offers public figures a clearer procedural mechanism to safeguard their personality rights. The upcoming hearing is expected to review compliance and assess whether further injunctive measures are necessary. Along with Senior Advocate J. Sai Deepak, advocates Himanshu Deora, Rahul Mehta, Arpit Choudhary, Sukrit Kapoor, Krunal Mehta, Anupriya Alok, Sambhavi Sharma, Sanat Saswadkar, Sambhavi Bhardwaj, and Karen Koya from King Stubb & Kasiva represented Pawan Kalyan.