NEW DELHI
The Delhi High Court has stepped in to protect the “personality rights” of Sanjiv Goenka, the prominent industrialist and owner of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). In a significant legal victory, the court issued an order stopping the unauthorized use of his name and image across digital platforms. This includes a strict ban on content created using artificial intelligence, such as deepfakes, which have recently been used to mock the business leader.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela passed the order after hearing a lawsuit against tech giants like Google and Meta. Goenka’s legal team argued that his identity was being misused through derogatory videos and fake news that went far beyond harmless parody. The court agreed, noting that several AI-generated posts used “distasteful” language and expletives that could cause permanent damage to the reputation of a globally recognized entrepreneur and philanthropist.
The lawsuit highlighted specific examples where Goenka’s face was morphed into insulting scenarios, often tied to his team’s performance in the Indian Premier League. The judge emphasized that while public figures are often the subject of satire, the law must protect individuals from “unauthorized appropriation” of their persona for commercial gain or malicious trolling.
As part of the ruling, major social media platforms must now take down offensive links and identify the accounts responsible for uploading them. This case sets a major precedent in India for how the legal system handles the growing threat of deepfakes and the misuse of identity in the age of artificial intelligence.
