The Bombay High Court has directed the takedown of deepfakes and other unauthorised content allegedly misusing actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s name, image, voice and other aspects of her personality. The order came after the actor approached the court over the alleged misuse of her identity across websites and social media platforms.
Bombay High Court orders takedown of deepfakes
According to a PTI report, a single-judge bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar passed an interim order on a petition filed by Samantha Ruth Prabhu. In her plea, the actor raised concerns over the alleged use of morphed photographs, deepfake videos and other content that used her identity without authorisation.The court restrained the defendants from publishing or disseminating objectionable content involving the unauthorised use of Samantha’s personality traits, including content generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence.The order covers the unauthorised use of Samantha’s name, image and voice, among other aspects of her identity.
Court protects Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s personality rights
The Bombay High Court observed that Samantha’s personality rights are protected in connection with her fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of speech and expression, the right to life and personal liberty, the right to privacy and the right to human dignity.The court observed that these rights were allegedly being affected by the actions complained of in the petition.Samantha’s advocate, Rashmin Khandekar, also brought several alleged instances of misuse to the court’s attention. These reportedly included AI-generated voice content, obscene videos and interactive AI chatbots allegedly using the actor’s identity.The interim order comes amid growing concerns around the unauthorised use of celebrities’ likenesses and voices through artificial intelligence and deepfake technology.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s upcoming projects
On the work front, Samantha Ruth Prabhu was last seen in the female-led action thriller ‘Maa Inti Bangaaram,’ directed by Nandini Reddy and produced by Raj Nidimoru. The film reportedly crossed the Rs 100 crore mark at the box office.Samantha had earlier spoken about taking a break from work following the film’s release and success.She is also expected to return to work with the action-fantasy series ‘Rakt Brahmand: The Bloody Kingdom’; however, further official updates regarding the project and her schedule are awaited.
