New Delhi, Jul 1 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed removal of certain objectionable social media content targeting MP Raghav Chadha.
Chadha, who has exited the Aam Aadmi Party to join the BJP, earlier filed a lawsuit in the high court against the publication of alleged malicious and fabricated social media posts, that, he said, were gravely prejudicial to his reputation and personality rights.
"I said no personality rights is involved. However, I have asked to take down (certain content)," Justice Subramonium Prasad said while pronouncing the interim order in the matter.
"Rest all, the content is not defamatory prima facie," the judge added.
A detailed copy of the order is awaited.
The court had reserved verdict on the aspect of interim relief to take down the alleged offending content on May 21.
Chadha, in his plea, had sought immediate removal and takedown of false, AI,-generated and deepfake content circulating widely across social media platforms.
His lawsuit contended that artificial intelligence and deepfake technology were being used in an unauthorised manner to create and disseminate manipulated content, which was a serious infringement of Chadha's legal and constitutional rights.
Several public figures, like actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, podcaster Raj Shamani and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, have previously approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights.The high court had granted them interim relief.
New Delhi, Jul 1 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed removal of certain objectionable social media content targeting MP Raghav Chadha, but it also emphasised that a public figure should not be thin-skinned and complain about any criticism of his decision.
Justice Subramonium Prasad refused to pass a take-down order for a "majority" of the content flagged by Chadha and asserted that criticism in the form of satirical humour does not automatically make it offensive or defamatory.
"A public figure should not be so thin-skinned so as to complain about any criticism of his decisions and such criticism ought to be viewed with humility," said the judge.
Chadha, who has exited the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the BJP, earlier filed a lawsuit in the high court against the publication of alleged malicious and fabricated social media posts that, he said, were gravely prejudicial to his reputation and personality rights.
In the interim order, Justice Prasad said that while some of the content flagged in the plea reeked of malice and they maligned Chadha's reputation, the "majority" appeared to be "satirical expressions of the plaintiff's decisions in the political sphere".
The court observed that certain posts in question contained explicit, profane and vulgar content, which fell outside the purview of "harmless satirical humour", and directed the social media platforms to take down their links within two weeks till further orders.
It also asked the platforms to provide Chadha the 'Basic Subscriber Information' and IP logs of the accounts associated with the content.
In the 19-page order, Justice Prasad asserted that political decisions are "likely to attract both bouquets and brickbats" and humour over change in political party alliances and the like is a part and parcel of politics.
"Any action by a politician belonging to any political party will, in most, if not all circumstances, invite criticism from, upset, or create turmoil amongst, the general public or members from rival political parties, which may at times be expressed in the form of satirical humour. However, that does not automatically make such content offensive or defamatory," the order said.
"Public figures assuming such positions of power must accept being at the receiving end of the satirical humour as a necessary and inevitable aspect of their profession, though unpleasant," it added.
Underscoring that a "fair balance" has to be struck, the court said that it was not endorsing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to produce deepfake videos, morphed images and the like to harm an individual's dignity and acknowledged that AI was being used as a tool for voicing opinions across social media platforms in political context.
In the order, the court also opined that prima facie, the lawsuit did not pertain to protection of Chadha's personality rights, which entails one's right to control and protect the exploitation of one's image, name, and the like, and consequent commercial gains.
It noted that the plaintiff did not press arguments on personality rights, and confined his reliefs on the issue of defamation.
The court had reserved verdict on the aspect of interim relief to take down the alleged offending content on May 21.
Chadha, in his plea, had sought immediate removal and takedown of false, AI-generated and deepfake content circulating widely across social media platforms.
His lawsuit contended that artificial intelligence and deepfake technology were being used in an unauthorised manner to create and disseminate manipulated content, which was a serious infringement of Chadha's legal and constitutional rights.
Several public figures, like actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, podcaster Raj Shamani and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, have previously approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights.The high court had granted them interim relief.
Raghav Chadha v. Ashok Kumar John Doe, (Delhi) : Law Finder Doc Id # 2932762
