Kajol secures legal shield against misuse of her identity, including AI deepfakes
The Delhi High Court has granted interim protection to Bollywood actor Kajol Devgan, reinforcing her personality and publicity rights against unauthorised and harmful use, including AI-generated content.
A bench led by Justice Jyoti Singh passed an ad-interim injunction restraining several defendants from using her name, image, voice, likeness, or other personal attributes for commercial gain without consent. The restraint extends to merchandise, posters, and promotional materials that trade on her identity.
The court also directed the immediate removal of obscene, pornographic, and defamatory content circulating online that misuses her persona. A detailed order is expected to follow, with specific directions addressing deepfakes and other AI-manipulated media.
Why this matters for legal teams
The court noted a prima facie case to protect personality and publicity rights against unauthorised exploitation and digital misuse. This tracks a growing trend of public figures seeking swift relief against deepfakes, cloned audio, and online impersonation. Judges have consistently signalled that satire, commentary, and news reporting remain protected, but unauthorised commercial exploitation or degrading content crosses the line.
Practical playbook for plaintiffs
- Fast evidence capture: Timestamped screenshots, URLs, hashes, full copies of ads, campaign IDs, storefront pages, CDN links; send preservation notices for server logs and payment trails.
- Relief to request: Ad-interim restraint over name/image/voice/likeness; takedown of obscene/defamatory media; directions to intermediaries, ISPs, and domain registrars; disclosure of uploader/advertiser details; rolling or dynamic injunctions to cover re-uploads; Ashok Kumar/John Doe relief for unknown operators.
- Deepfake-specific terms: Explicit ban on synthetic media depicting the plaintiff; no AI-cloned voice or face; cover "future variants," derivatives, and algorithmic edits under the same injunction; require clear disclosure where appropriate.
- Preservation and monetisation freeze: Preserve offending files, engagement metrics, and ad-revenue records; hold payouts tied to infringing traffic.
- Enforcement scope: Extend restraints to affiliates, resellers, promotional partners, and marketplaces facilitating the misuse.
Defense-side checkpoints
- Verify consent chains and licences; audit model releases and influencer contracts for name, image, likeness, and voice rights.
- Assess satire/commentary/news positions; avoid monetisation or implied endorsements that signal association.
- Maintain a takedown workflow aligned with court-order timelines and intermediary due-diligence obligations.
Intermediary and platform obligations
Upon receiving a court order, intermediaries are expected to act quickly to remove unlawful content and preserve data needed for enforcement. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 set out due-diligence and takedown expectations for platforms.
Action items for this week
- Audit any use of celebrity assets or synthetic media across campaigns, marketplaces, and partner channels.
- Update injunction templates with deepfake and "future variants" clauses; include clear platform directions.
- Set an escalation map across legal, trust & safety, ad ops, PR, and incident response.
- Train teams on evidence capture, preservation notices, and chain of custody.
Further learning
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