Deputy CM Of Andhra Pradesh Moves Delhi High Court To Protect Personality Rights, Social Media Platforms Asked To Act

Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Pawan Kalyan, moved the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking protection of his personality rights.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora noted that the politician has written to the social media platforms regarding the impugned content, as per the order passed in actor Ajay Devgn case.

For context, the Court had clarified that individuals seeking urgent takedown of objectionable online content must first approach the social media platforms first before directly seeking judicial injunction.

During the hearing today, Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak appeared for Kalyan. He said that Kalyan was aggrieved by AI videos circulated on Google, impersonation and fake association content on Meta and e commerce platforms.

The Court directed Kalyan to provide the infringing links and all relevant information to the social media platforms within 48 hours to enable them to take action as per IT Rules, 2021.

The judge asked the social media platforms, including Google and Meta platforms, to take action within one week.

The matter will now be heard on December 22.

Earlier today, Justice Arora had asked social media intermediaries to treat a suit filed by former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar seeking protection of his personality rights as a complaint and decide the same.

Yesterday, a similar order was passed by the Court in the suit filed by actor Salman Khan seeking protection of his personality rights.

On December 08, actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR Junior, moved the Court seeking similar relief. Justice Arora had directed the social media platforms and e commerce platforms to treat the his suit as a complaint under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

Recently, coordinate benches have passed orders protecting the personality rights of “The Art of Living” foundation founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Telugu actor Nagarjuna, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and film producer Karan Johar.

Notably, Justice Arora recently protected the personality rights of journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, who had sought relief regarding the circulation of allegedly misleading and AI-generated videos against him on social media.

The judge also passed a john doe order protecting the personality rights of podcaster Raj Shamani, observing that he is a known face in India, especially in the field of content creation.

Title: KONIDALA PAWAN KALYAN v. ASHOK KUMAR JOHN DOE & Ors