The Bombay High Court has granted significant interim relief to actor Preity Zinta in her legal battle against the proliferation of AI-generated deepfakes, morphed images, and unauthorized online content that misuses her identity across digital platforms.
Court's Stance on Online Intermediaries During the hearing, Justice Madhav Jamdar emphasized the crucial role and responsibility of online platforms like Meta in curbing such content. The court strongly urged these intermediaries to take proactive action, highlighting that their failure to do so could be seen as affecting citizens' fundamental rights. Meta's counsel responded, asserting that the company is taking proactive steps to remove violating content.
Preity Zinta's Allegations and Rights Infringement
• Senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond, representing Zinta, informed the court that the suit identified approximately 275 YouTube links containing AI-generated, morphed, or superimposed videos and images leveraging the actor's likeness.
• The content, according to submissions, infringes upon Zinta's personality rights, publicity rights, and moral rights, as her identity is being used without consent.
• The court acknowledged Zinta's extensive career in the film industry and the significant public identity she has built, recognizing the potential harm to her reputation from unauthorized AI-generated content.
• It was noted that such content violates rights protected under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, which encompass the right to life and personal liberty, including the right to live with dignity.
Interim Protection Granted After careful consideration, the Bombay High Court ruled that Zinta had established a prima facie case, leading to the granting of interim relief. The court also permitted her to amend her plaint. Counsel representing Meta and Google LLC informed the court of their willingness to remove the identified links. However, both platforms requested the liberty to raise objections if future complaints involve genuine photographs or otherwise lawful content, a request that the court accepted.
