The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to Union minister Nitin Gadkari, ordering Meta, X and Google to immediately remove all the "vile, abusive, obscene and defamatory" social media posts targeting him.
A single-judge bench of Justice Arif Doctor issued the direction while hearing a civil defamation suit filed by the Minister for Road Transport and Highways challenging a series of AI-generated deepfake videos and manipulated digital posts that falsely alleged Gadkari and his family received illegal financial benefits from the Centre's ethanol-blended petrol (E20) initiative.
"These posts, on the face of it, are abusive, vile, and obscene," Justice Doctor said, adding, "The material on the face of it is absolutely vile and abusive. Such material should have no place on a public platform, which is accessible to everyone, including the younger generation." The bench directed Meta, X Corp and Google LLC to ensure forthwith that the posts are taken down.
Justice Doctor also questioned these online platforms if they had any mechanism to take down such posts without the person having to approach court.
The platforms ought to take down such posts voluntarily, the high court said.
"With all this technology at your disposal, don't you have some mechanism where there should be triggers? If someone upholds something vulgar or abusive, it should immediately be picked up and deleted. This is absolutely vile. Someone is just spewing venom," Justice Doctor said.
The court said that if in future any such similar posts, including deepfakes or AI-generated material, are uploaded, then the minister can approach the online platforms, which shall then act upon the same.
In future, there has to be some mechanism wherein online platforms take down the material without the person having to move court, Justice Doctor said.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks, by when the respondents shall file their affidavits in reply to the minister's plea.
Gadkari last week filed a suit against Meta, X Corp, Google LLC and unknown persons for "defamatory" deepfakes and AI-generated posts uploaded against him over the ethanol policy.
The Union minister, in the plea filed through his advocate Sandeep Ladda, sought an immediate takedown of all fake and fabricated content and a permanent injunction against the circulation of posts that allegedly tarnished his reputation.
He had also sought Rs 11 crore in damages for the defamatory content.
The senior BJP leader claimed that several fake, AI-generated and defamatory posts were available online regarding the ethanol-blended fuel issue.
Unknown persons have uploaded and circulated posts and deepfake content falsely portraying him as being personally responsible for the programme, and alleging that he and his family have financially benefited from it, the plea stated.
This has caused irreparable harm to Gadkari's reputation and personality rights, it alleged.
The allegations made in the online posts are "false, malicious and grossly defamatory without an iota of doubt", the suit stated, adding that it is designed to create a misleading public perception against Gadkari.
The minister stated that the ethanol-blending programme and E20 policy are administered by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, not him personally.
While the plea clarified that no attempt was being made to stifle fair public debate or bona fide comments, it claimed that reckless and defamatory allegations had crossed the line of lawful speech.
