Bombay High Court protects Shilpa Shetty’s personality rights, orders takedown of deepfakes

The Bombay High Court recently ordered e‑commerce platforms and Artificial Intelligence (AI)‑content sites to take down deepfakes and other content infringing the personality rights of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra [Shilpa Shetty v. getoutlive.in & Ors.].

In an order passed in chambers on March 4, Justice Sharmila U Deshmukh held that Shetty’s personality rights deserve to be protected and accordingly restrained around 28 entities (defendants) from unauthorised exploitation of her personality attributes.

“Upon prima facie consideration of the material which has been placed on record, it is evident that by unauthorised use of Shetty’s persona/ name/ image/ likeness/ photographs and other personality attributes, the (e‑commerce) defendants are passing off their goods as being associated with Shetty,” the Court recorded in its order.

The judge also noted that certain other defendants, like websites generating AI content, were permitting their platforms to be utilised for violating Shetty’s personality rights by the creation of deepfakes and other AI‑generated content that used her persona without consent.

The Court described this as the “most disturbing” aspect of the case.

“Apart from the general commercialisation of the personality attributes of Shetty which requires immediate restraint, the most disturbing aspect is the deepfakes and AI‑generated pornographic and obscene content generated and uploaded on publicly accessible platforms, which results in tarnishing the image of the person involved and violates the right to privacy and right to live with dignity guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the judge underscored.

The order reiterated that a popular and notable public figure who seeks to protect her personality attributes cannot be permitted to be commercially exploited without her own consent and authorisation. 

“There could be no justification for permitting such content to be uploaded on the digital platforms for unauthorised exploitation for commercial gain,” the Court emphasised.

As regards intermediaries and other platforms, the court directed them to continue taking down or deleting URLs identified by Shetty within eight days of notification, while permitting them to approach the court if they object to any removal. This was in accordance with an order of its vacation bench dated December 26, 2025.

Advocates Sana Raees Khan, Palak Kasliwal and Haider Tapia appeared for Shetty.

Advocates Prabudh Singh, Dhrupad Vaghani, Gayatri Mohite and Ajij M K appeared for Etsy.

Advocates Navankur Pathak and Bargavi Baradhwaj briefed by Sai Krishna and Associates appeared for Flipkart.

Advocates Amishi Sodani and Charu Shukla appeared for Tenor.com and Google LLC.

Advocates Nishad Nadkarni, Aasif Navodia, Khushboo Jhunjhunwala, Jaanvi Chopra and Rakshita Singh briefed by Khaitan and Co. appeared for Talkie AI.

Advocate Krishnakant Deshmukh appeared for Botify AI and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

[Read Order]