Preity Zinta secures court order against AI deepfakes violating personality rights

HC orders takedown of Priety Zinta deepfakes, says misuse of such content affects fundamental rights

The Bombay High Court ordered the removal of all unauthorized online content featuring Priety Zinta. The court stated that deepfakes violate fundamental rights and personal dignity. Online platforms were reminded of their due diligence obligations under IT Rules. The actor's counsel presented evidence of numerous AI-generated and morphed images. This ruling protects individuals' reputations and publicity rights from misuse. Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday ordered the removal of all deepfakes, morphed images, fake videos and other unauthorised online content featuring actor Priety Zinta, holding that misuse of such content affects a person's fundamental rights. As it gave relief to Zinta, a single bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar also reminded online platforms of their due diligence obligations under the Information Technology Rules. The court also raised the issue of the role of intermediaries in tackling such content, as even their platform was being misused. "If the intermediaries start taking action, such type of offenders will stop. Otherwise, you are part of affecting fundamental rights of the citizens of this country," HC said. The bench ordered the immediate take-down of all such unauthorised and fake images and videos of Zinta uploaded on various platforms. In her suit, Zinta had referred to videos, images and chatbot-style interactions depicting her through deepfakes and morphed visuals. The actor's counsel Venkatesh Dhond pointed to around 275 websites that contained AI-generated, morphed or superimposed images and videos using the actor's likeness. He submitted that such material violated her personality, publicity and moral rights. The court said that Zinta, who has been associated with the film industry for over 25 years, had built a valuable public identity through her career. The unauthorised use of her image, likeness and mannerisms in AI-generated content could damage her reputation and violate her rights, it said. "The plaintiff's personality rights, publicity rights and moral rights are violated by creation of such morphed and superimposed content," the court said. It added that these rights flow from the constitutional guarantee of free speech under Article 19 and the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21, which includes the right to live with dignity. The court held that a prima facie case had been made out and granted interim relief. A deepfake is synthetic media like an image, audio or video recording, created using artificial intelligence (AI) to convincingly replace or alter a person's likeness or voice.

Bombay HC backs Preity Zinta against AI deepfake misuse

Download the court order here. Hindi actress Preity Zinta has secured an ad interim injunction from the Bombay HC against Google, X, Meta, and several AI platforms over deepfakes, chatbot personas, and merchandise that misuse her name, image, and voice without consent. Justice Madhav J. Jamdar passed the order, directing Google, X, and Meta to take down or block access to roughly 275 infringing URLs within 72 hours. Zinta first approached the HC in June seeking permission to sue intermediaries and other parties. Justice Abhay Ahuja granted that permission. Read MediaNama's previous reporting here. 'Personality rights' and 'publicity rights' are protected under Article 19(1)(a): Bombay HC Justice Jamdar held that the material on record made out "a very strong prima facie case," finding that AI-generated content violated Zinta's personality rights, publicity rights, and moral rights under the Copyright Act, 1957. The court also noted that these personality rights flow from the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) and the right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution. According to the court order, the actress's lawyers submitted the deepfake videos, morphed and superimposed photographs, memes, AI voice simulations, and chatbot personas built in Zinta's likeness. Senior Advocate Venkatesh Dhond, appearing for Zinta, told the court that certain content was also "misleading, defamatory, explicit or otherwise objectionable." Bombay HC's ruling: * An unnamed AI platform was directed to add "Preity Zinta" and "Preity G Zinta" to its character-creation and search blocklists, and to take steps preventing new AI characters from being built using her image and voice. * The court ordered the unnamed defendants not to use Zinta's name, nicknames, photo, likeness (such as her dimpled smile), voice, mannerisms, or character without her permission, including through AI-generated content, deepfakes, chatbots, and face-morphing. * Bombay HC said that the accused cannot use Zinta's name, nicknames, photo, smile, voice, mannerisms, or any part of her likeness without her permission. This includes the use of AI, deepfakes, or face-morphing. They are also not allowed to do this for money or personal benefit. * If Google, X, or Meta receives a written notice about new infringing content similar to what is already listed, they must act within 72 hours and have the right to challenge such takedown requests. Kash Collective, named as Defendant in the case, was accused of selling merchandise bearing Zinta's name, image, and likeness without authorisation. It is important to note that the same entity (via kashcollectiveco.com) was also found selling unauthorised Aishwarya Rai Bachchan merchandise in a Delhi HC order last year. Read more about it here. Domain name registrars named as defendants were separately directed to disclose the identities of owners of the alleged privacy-violating websites behind infringing domains within seven days of a written request backed by an affidavit. A brief timeline of celebrities who got their personality rights protected: July 2026: * Abhishek Sharma, cricketer -- Read June 2026: * Varun Dhawan, actor -- Read May 2026: * Bhuvan Bam, actor and content creator -- [order] * Arjun Kapoor, Hindi actor - [Order] * Allu Arjun, actor - Read April 2026: * Anil Kumar Tiwari, aka Aniruddhacharya, Hindu religious orator. -- [Order] * Shilpa Shetty, Hindi actress -- [Read] * Toprankers Edtech, Delhi HC dismissed this case. [Read] * Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAt. Delhi HC hasn't passed the order yet, and the case was scheduled on May 7, 2026. [Read] March 2026: * Mohan Lal, Malayalam actor - [Order] * Sonakshi Sinha, Hindi actress -[Read] February 2026: * Jubin Nautiyal. Singer -- [Order] * Kajol Devgan, Hindi actress -- [Read] January 2026: * Pawan Kalyan, actor and AP Deputy CM - [Order] * Akira Nandan, son of actor and AP Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan -- [Read] December 2025: * Salman Khan, Hindi actor and producer -- [Read] * Jr NTR, Telugu actor -- [Order] * Chiranjeevi, actor and ex-Rajya Sabha member - [Order] * R Madhavan, Tamil and Hindi actor -- [Read] November 2025: * Raj Shamani, Podcaster, Delhi HC -- [Read], [Order] October 2025: * Sudhir Chaudhary, Journalist at DD News -- [Read], [Order] * Jagadish Vasudev, aka Sadhguru -- [Read] * Asha Bhosle, Hindi singer -- [Read] September 2025: * Nagarjuna, Telugu actor -- [Read] * Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Hindi actress -- [Read] * Abhishek Bachchan, Hindi actor -- [Read] * Karan Johar. Hindi actor and producer -- [Read] July 2025: * Sonu Nigam, singer -- [Read] December 2024: * Rajat Sharma, TV journalist -- [Read] * Mohan Babu, Telugu actor -- [Read] August 2024: * Arijit Singh, singer -- [Read] May 2024: * Jackie Shroff. Hindi actor -- [Read] September 2023: * Anil Kapoor, Hindi actor and producer -- [Read] November 2022: * Amitabh Bachchan, Hindi actor -- [Read] If we have missed anyone from the list, please write to me at [email protected]