The Delhi High Court on Friday remarked that once a person says that their deepfake is being generated and disseminated on social media platforms, the intermediaries should ideally act on the same [Rajat Sharma & Anr v Tamara doc & Ors].
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora remarked that people should not be forced to come to Courts for issues like these, and the statutory mechanism should work.
“Once a party, whose deepfake is being made, says it is a deepfake, where is the question of investigation?” the Court asked.
Such repeated instances have turned the Court into a grievance redressal forum, Justice Arora added.
“People should not be made to come to court for issues like these unless it is a contested issue… Why am I being made the grievance redressal officer [of social media platform]?” the Court asked.
Justice Arora said that she had to write “pass 30-page orders” when the issue could be handled by the grievance redressal officer in two pages.
People should not be made to come to court for issues like these unless it is a contested issue.Delhi High Court
The Bench made the remarks after journalist Rajat Sharma filed an application in his already pending personality rights suit seeking the removal of deepfake content on YouTube.
Sharma asked the Court to make YouTube a party to the suit and to pass orders for the removal of several YouTube channels creating and disseminating his deepfakes, giving investment advice and propagating news.
After considering the case, the High Court made YouTue a party and directed the removal of the content flagged by Sharma.
The Court said that Sharma can approach YouTube in the future if more of his deepfakes surface, and the social media platform should take steps to take them down in 48 hours.
Advocates Saikrishna Rajagopal, Disha Sharma, Snehima Jauhari, Deepika Pokharia and Mythili Girish from Saikrishna & Associates appeared for Rajat Sharma.