Delhi High Court Protects Actor Tabu Against AI Deepfakes And Misuse
The Delhi High Court has granted interim protection to actor Tabassum Jamal Hashmi, popularly known as Tabu, restraining third parties and online platforms from the unauthorised use of her name, image, voice, and other personality attributes. Justice Jyoti Singh passed the order on August 6, stating that the actor was likely to suffer irreparable harm if protection was not granted.
The court's decision came on a suit filed by Tabu against several individuals and online platforms. The actor alleged unauthorised exploitation of her personality rights, sale of merchandise using her photographs, circulation of defamatory material, and the dissemination of manipulated and artificial intelligence-generated content, including deepfakes and face-morphing technology.
In her plea, the actor stated that she had encountered AI-generated obscene images and videos created to attract viewership through sensationalism and prurience. She pointed out that several videos, images, and GIFs circulating online comprised altered excerpts from her films, interviews, and public appearances.
Her plea further detailed that specific movie scenes had been specially edited by zooming in and slowing down the frame rate to focus on and highlight parts of intimate scenes for unlawful gain, depicting her in a bad light.
The court noted that Tabu is a world-renowned, critically acclaimed actress who has established a prominent presence in both Indian and international film industries over three decades. The court held that her name, stage name, image, voice, and likeness have acquired a unique distinctiveness associated with her by the public, giving her the right to restrain third parties from exploiting her attributes without consent.
The court restrained various defendants from using, exploiting, or misappropriating Tabu's publicity rights, covering her name, voice recordings, signatures, photographs, and movie stills. To enforce the restraint, the court directed Google, Meta, X, and Reddit to take down or disable specified URLs, and ordered GoDaddy to lock and suspend specified web domains.
