Preity Jinta has moved the Bombay High Court seeking an injunction against the dissemination of AI-generated deepfake videos, morphed images and other unauthorized digital content depicting him. The case has been filed as ‘Preity Zinta Vs Google LLC & Ors’.When the matter came up on July 3, Justice Madhav Jamder indicated that he would pass the order on July 6 after directing the parties to work together on a practical approach to remove the allegedly infringing content from online platforms.In his lawsuit, Zinta named several intermediaries as respondents, including Google and Meta, along with domain name registrars and certain identified infringers. He alleged that AI-generated deepfake videos, manipulated images and chatbot-style interactions were being hosted on various online platforms. Appearing for Jinta, senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond argued that AI-generated deepfakes are becoming increasingly sophisticated. He requested the court to grant urgent ex parte relief directing the identified websites and intermediaries to immediately remove all infringing material mentioned in the petition.Dhond also requested a John Doe injunction against anonymous infringers and a broader injunction prohibiting all individuals from publishing or distributing unauthorized AI-generated content featuring Zinta.Counsel representing Google and Meta informed the court that they have no objection to removing URLs containing morphed or obscene material identified by the plaintiffs. However, they opposed any blanket directive requiring intermediaries to proactively monitor or remove content that may not be infringing. They also claimed that some of the URLs flagged in the lawsuit did not contain objectionable material.A domain name registrar submits that its role is limited to registering domain names and that it has no control over URLs that point users to content hosted on social media platforms.Justice Jamdar observed that any relief granted by the court must be carefully tailored to ensure that the offending content is removed without affecting legitimate online content. While expressing the opinion that the case warrants protective relief, the judge ordered all parties to cooperate on an effective protocol that would facilitate the removal of factually infringing content while protecting legitimate content. The hearing is scheduled to be held again on July 6.
