Bombay High Court protects Shilpa Shetty’s personality rights; orders deletion of AI-generated content, calls it ‘extremely disturbing and shocking’

The Bombay High Court on Friday came down heavily on AI-generated and morphed images of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, terming the content “extremely disturbing and shocking” and directing social media platforms to forthwith delete and remove all such links and websites.As per PTI, a vacation bench of Justice Advait Sethna observed that the material placed before the court was, “prima facie extremely disturbing,” adding that, “no personality, much less a person and or a woman can be portrayed in a fashion which affects her fundamental right to privacy and that too, without her knowledge and or consent.”In her suit, Shetty sought protection of her personality rights, alleging that AI tools were used to clone her voice and mannerisms to create morphed images, books and other merchandise without her authorisation.The actor urged the court to pass an injunction directing websites to take down the content and to restrain them from using her name, voice or image without prior permission.Recording its findings, the court noted that Shetty had submitted images from multiple social media platforms which depicted her in an inappropriate and unacceptable fashion.“These pictures prima facie appear shocking,” Justice Sethna said in the order. Acknowledging Shetty’s public standing, the court underlined the potential damage caused by the circulation of such content.She is a well-known film personality and active on social media, the bench observed, adding that portraying such images through URLs would “tarnish her image and reputation and this cannot be countenanced.” Concluding the matter, the high court directed all defendants to immediately delete the offending URLs from their respective platforms.“In the interest of justice,” the court ordered that the content be taken down without delay.