Bombay HC orders takedown of deepfake posts linking Gadkari to E20 policy
The court observed that the content flagged by Gadkari was “vile and abusive” and said such material should not be present on public platforms.
The Bombay High Court issued an interim order on Wednesday to remove deepfake content from social media platforms, which alleged a link between Union road minister Nitin Gadkari and his family to the Centre's E20 ethanol-blending programme. Justice Arif Doctor expressed concern over the "vile and abusive" nature of the material, stating it has no place on public platforms accessible to all, including young people.
Meta and Google have agreed to take down the flagged content. Gadkari filed the suit, alleging that deepfake posts falsely connected him and his family to financial benefits from the E20 programme, damaging his reputation. The E20 programme mixes 20% ethanol with 80% petrol to lessen India's reliance on crude oil imports. The court urged platforms like Meta and Google to implement measures for swiftly removing harmful content, such as enhanced AI detection, KYC-backed accountability, and proactive removal of deepfake content.
Gadkari was granted the right to inform platforms about any future defamatory content. The matter will be revisited in four weeks.
Written by urgent.news from Live Mint's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
