Delhi HC protects personality rights of actor Kriti Sanon

The Delhi High Court has restrained third parties from infringing actor Kriti Sanon's personality rights by posting AI-generated content online, including her morphed and sexually explicit images, videos, or audio, as well as impersonating her through chatbots or voice models.

Directing the removal of the infringing content from online platforms, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said the content in question not only appropriated the commercial value of the plaintiff's identity but also affronted her dignity.

The court also restrained an online seller from selling merchandise bearing the attributes of Sanon's persona, noting that some of its products were said to use images from her personal life.


Justice Kaurav passed the interim order on October 29 on Sanon's lawsuit alleging violation of her publicity and privacy rights by certain unknown persons, which was bound to cause irreparable injury.

Her counsel argued that the misuse included the use of her name, image, likeness and voice for offering ''bookings" for her appearance, sale of merchandise, AI chatbots and synthetic voice models, prompt-based image generation and pornographic deepfakes.

It was stated that certain accounts on YouTube, Facebook, X and Pinterest were circulating her AI-generated and morphed images.

"Defendant nos. 1, 2, 4 to 6, 8, 9, 11, 13 to 17 and 20 (John Does) are restrained from uploading, hosting, generating or making available further material of a similar nature, namely: (i) material impersonating the plaintiff or falsely representing an association with her; (ii) sexually explicit, obscene or morphed images, videos or audio of the plaintiff, including AI-generated ones; (iii) chatbots or voice models presented as the plaintiff; and (iv) merchandise of the kind placed on record," the court ordered.

The interim order clarified that there was no restraint on news, review, criticism, commentary, satire, parody, caricature or fan expression that did not fall within the infringing categories specified in its directions.

Several public figures, like actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan and Kangana Ranaut, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, podcaster Raj Shamani, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and cricketer Abhishek Sharma, have previously approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights.

The high court had granted them interim relief.