Delhi HC Orders Platforms to Remove Gambhir Deepfakes

The Delhi High Court on March 25 directed major technology platforms, including Meta, Google and Amazon, to remove online content that misuses the name, image and voice of Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian cricketer and current head coach of the men's national team, for commercial purposes without his consent.

The single-judge bench, presided over by Justice Jyoti Singh, granted interim protection to Gambhir's personality and publicity rights during a hearing in the commercial division. The court stated it would issue a detailed order requiring the platforms to take down specific flagged URLs and posts, as well as disclose basic subscriber information and IP details of the uploaders. This action addresses allegations of a coordinated campaign using artificial intelligence tools, such as deepfakes, face-swapping and voice-cloning, to create fabricated videos and materials attributed to Gambhir.

Gambhir filed the civil suit last week, naming 16 defendants, including individual social media accounts, e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart, and intermediaries such as X Corp. and YouTube. The petition accuses these parties of facilitating the spread of misleading content and...