Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has successfully approached the Delhi High Court to safeguard his personality and publicity rights from unauthorized commercial use on various online platforms. In a significant move, the Delhi High Court has directed several social media intermediaries and platforms to address his complaint and take necessary action within three days.
Salman Khan filed a comprehensive lawsuit to protect his distinct identity and persona. The core of his petition seeks a legal injunction—an order from the court—to restrain various named and unnamed entities, including social media platforms and e-commerce websites (often called ‘John Does’ in legal terms), from illegally using his personal attributes for profit.
These legal rights give a celebrity the power to control, protect, and profit from how their public identity is used. The petition specifically targets the unapproved use of his name, image, voice, likeness, dialogues, and signature mannerisms.
The actor argued that this unauthorized use, often involving misleading or AI-generated content (like deepfakes), not only infringes on his personal rights but also misleads the public into thinking he endorses certain products or services. This misuse severely diminishes his brand value and causes “irreparable harm” to his commercial interests.
During the hearing, the Delhi High Court’s direction was clear and swift. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora ordered the social media intermediaries to consider Khan’s lawsuit as a formal complaint under the Information Technology.
The platforms have been given a strict deadline of three days to act on the complaint. This means they must review the content flagged by Khan’s legal team and take steps to remove any material that violates his personality rights and is considered defamatory or misleading.
This ruling follows similar actions taken by the Delhi High Court to protect other high-profile personalities, including actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, and Jr. NTR, from similar exploitation in the digital age. The court is establishing a mandatory first step for celebrities to seek urgent removal of infringing content directly through the social media platforms themselves before escalating to a formal court injunction against the platforms.
This case is a crucial development in the battle against the misuse of celebrity identity online, especially with the rise of sophisticated AI-generated content (deepfakes). The court’s prompt action provides a strong legal tool for public figures to combat digital fraud and unauthorized merchandise that trades on their fame. To know such latest updates, stay tuned to tellyboosters.com Thank you!
