Bombay HC Orders Takedown of Nitin Gadkari Deepfakes Over E20 Row

Court Calls Viral AI Content 'Vile and Abusive'

While granting interim relief to Gadkari, a single judge bench of Justice Arif Doctor had directed Meta, X Corp and Google LLC to take down the posts immediately as the court found them “absolutely vile”.

Justice Doctor added that if other abusive material and deepfakes appeared in the future, the same shall be brought to the notice of the defendant.

“The material which the plaintiff seeks to pull down, I can only say that the same is absolutely vile and abusive. Such material should have no place on a public platform, which is accessible to everyone, including young," he said.

Gadkari Seeks ₹11 Crore for Personality Rights Violation

The petitions that Gadkari had filed last week and sought Rs 11 crore for ‘gross violation of his personality rights with the use of highly abusive and offensive posts, AI-generated deep fakes and manipulated news. He was also sought mandatory and perpetual injunctions directing internet companies to pull down manipulated videos, fake AI generated pictures, ‘face-swap’ videos, deepfakes using his likeness, personality attributes and mannerisms without authorization. 

In a suit, a series of viral reels, memes, videos and mock quotes attributed fabricated claims of Mr. Gadkari designed the E20 policy and allegedly benefited his family financially from it. Gadkari, in turn, denied all allegations, stating that official government records proved otherwise, terming the allegations as defamation and documentary falsity.

According to his petition, he was not trying to curb legitimate criticism or discussions against government policies. However, the suit noted, the content overstepped bounds of legitimate political discourse or satire by leveraging abusive language, visual fabrication, and deliberately false assertions aimed at tarnishing Gadkari's image. 

E20 Fuel Policy Faces Fresh Debate Amid Vehicle Concerns

This, however, unfolds at a time when the EBP policy meant to slash India's crude oil dependence is facing backlash. As of now, India is also trying to scale up the blending programme with ethanol, derived from materials such as sugarcane, rice, and maize mixed with petrol. In India, the target to blend 20 percent ethanol with petrol, a fuel type known as E20, has now been met.

Vehicle manufacturers stated that the ethanol mix can diminish the vehicle mileage, as well as damage and corrupt vehicle parts from older models and vehicles which do not fit in compliance.