The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed takedown of deepfake and impersonating content posted against founder of Drishti IAS coaching institute and former civil servant Vikas Divyakirti on social media.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said that a detailed order will be passed, while also issuing summons in Divyakirti's suit seeking protection of his personality rights.

The Court also issued notice on his interim injunction application.

During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Diya Kapur appearing for the educator said that it is a clear case of infringement of copyright, moral rights as well as personality rights, without there being any competing rights with anyone.

She said that Divyakirti was aggrieved by social media profiles impersonating him on Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, using his images.

Divyakirti is also aggrieved by deepfake content as well as copyright violation wherein individuals have been using clips of his lectures without his authorisation or license. Kapur said that in such a case, no argument of fair use can be made as individuals were selectively using the clips of the lectures.

Advocate Varun Pathak appearing for Meta said that 11 of the 13 offending urls may be directed to be taken down, which were Instagram reels, adding that misinformation may be removed.

He however added that Divyakirti has an alternative remedy available under the Information Technology Rules as well as the Information Technology Act.

He said that under Section 46 of IT Act, adjudicating officer has the power to adjudicate disputes upto Rs. 5 crore and that the jurisdiction of civil court is absolutely barred. Under the IT Rules, he added that a person can approach the grievance officer and also has an appellate remedy.

Kapur responded that the Grievance Appellate Committee is overburdened and that nothing happens in that forum.

She said that Divyakirti was not claiming violation of IT Act but of his moral and publicity rights which can be claimed in a court of law.

The Court also questioned Pathak over the tools deployed on Instagram which have the effect of infringing an individual's privacy.

“Mr. Pathak, you are creating very powerful tools. And you are giving it in the hands of those who are ghosts. You don't know who is going to use these tools. In our country today, if one has to own a gun they will be put to whole (lot of formalities). This (tools) is worse than a gun. It is available free of cost and anyone can download,” the judge remarked during a discussion on fake profiles with lack of personal details being sought before an account is made on social media.

Pathak responded by saying that an intermediary cannot ask for more details as is required in law.

The Court issued summons in the suit and said that a detailed order with takedown directions will be passed. It also directed the intermediaries to furnish basic subscriber information (BSI) details and IP logs of the uploaders of offending urls to Divyakirti.

It may be noted that the Court has been protecting the personality rights of actress Tabu, cricketers Abhishek Sharma and Yuvraj Singh, political figures like Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Pawan Kalyan.

It has also protected rights of entrepreneur Aman Gupta, Telugu actor Allu Arjun, Malayalam actor Mohanlal, spiritual preacher Aniruddhacharya, singer Jubin Nautiyal, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, and actors Kajol Devgan, R Madhavan and NTR Junior. Similar suit has been filed by actor Salman Khan.

The coordinate benches have also 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, the Court also 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 Court 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: DR VIKAS DIVYAKIRTI v. META PLATFORMS INC & ORS