Bombay High Court orders takedown of deepfakes, AI images linking Nitin Gadkari to E20 fuel programme

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in his suit seeking takedown of defamatory and deepfake content linking him and his family to the government's E20 ethanol-blending programme  [Nitin Gadkari v. Meta Platforms Inc & Ors.]

Justice Arif Doctor ordered social media platforms and intermediaries to take down defamatory and abusive content against Gadkari.

The suit was filed by Gadkari against Meta, X, Google/YouTube, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Department of Telecommunications, and unknown users described as “Ashok Kumar/John Doe.”

The Court noted that the content flagged by Gadkari was vile and abusive.

"One such transcript appears on instagram reel. There are other content. The material which plaintiff seeks to pull down, I can only say that the same is absolutely vile and abusive. Such material should have no place on public platform, which is accessible to everyone including young. The applicant has made out a case for ad interim relief. Meta and google have appeared and they have agreed to take down the material set out in exhibit c. Their statement is accepted," the Court said in its interim order.

Hence, it directed that such content be taken down.

Further, if any such content comes to the knowledge of Gadkari in future, he can inform the intermediaries of the same who will then have to take necessary action.

"In the event certain further defamatory content come to the knowledge of the plaintiff, they shall inform the defendants who will take action," the Court said.

"There may be some content which may be fair," the counsel for Meta pointed out.

"I am not stopping any to fair criticism," Gadkari's lawyer said.

"I agree it is not about criticism," the judge too said.

"Any further abusive material or deep fake photographs, the same shall be communicated to defendant . In the event there ia grey area, they will have liberty to move court," the Court stated.

The court also urged Google and Meta to come up with a mechanism to take down content, without having to approach the court every time.

The matter will be heard again after 4 weeks.

Gadkari moved the Court seeking permanent and mandatory injunctions for the takedown of allegedly manipulated videos and images described in the plaint as AI-generated “defamatory content” and “deep fake content.”

According to the plea, the material falsely attributes personal responsibility to him for the E20 programme and contains insinuations that he and his family have derived undue pecuniary benefits from it.

According to the plea, the material falsely attributed personal responsibility to Gadkari for the E20 programme and alleged that he and his family benefited from it.

The petition specifically referred to claims that his son, Nikhil Gadkari, runs CIAN Agro Industries & Infrastructure Limited, a company engaged in manufacturing ethanol and other products, and that this allegedly results in indirect benefit from ethanol blending of petrol.

Gadkari denied these allegations.

The suit relied on a series of posts, reels and videos that allegedly blame Gadkari for introducing or mandating E20 petrol and for vehicle damage said to have been caused by ethanol blends.

The plea said that defamatory the content insinuates corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of office by suggesting that his family has “derived undue pecuniary benefits from E20.

As per the plea, these imputations are false and amount to “documentary falsity,” since, according to official records cited in the suit, the programme is run by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Gadkari stated that he was not seeking to restrain “fair, just and bona fide criticism” of policy or his public life.

However, he contended that the challenged content contains profane and abusive language and fabricated quotes and visuals, which he says falls outside the scope of legitimate political criticism or satire.

Advocates Sandeep S Ladda, Shivani Khanwilkar, Saloni Shah and Dhun Vinod Santosh appeared for Gadkari.

Team from Shardul Amarchand and Mangaldas appeared for Meta.