Identity Weaponised: Gambhir Moves HC

Former India cricketer and current head coach of the Indian men’s team Gautam Gambhir has approached the Delhi High Court, seeking comprehensive protection of his personality and publicity rights against a "coordinated campaign of digital impersonation, AI-generated deepfakes, and unauthorised commercial exploitation."

The civil suit has been filed in the Commercial Division of the High Court, where Gambhir has sought an urgent injunction against multiple defendants, including social media accounts, e-commerce platforms and intermediaries.

In the law suit, Gambhir's legal team documented a "sharp and alarming increase in fabricated digital content" across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Facebook.

"Multiple accounts deployed artificial intelligence, face-swapping, and voice-cloning technologies to create realistic videos falsely depicting Mr. Gambhir making statements he never made — including a fraudulent "resignation announcement" that garnered over 29 lakh views, and a fabricated clip purporting to show him making remarks about senior cricketers' World Cup participation that drew over 17 lakh views. Beyond social media, major e-commerce platforms were facilitating the sale of posters and merchandise bearing his name and likeness without any authorisation," as per the release shared by Gambhir's team.

The suit has been filed against 16 defendants, including identified social media accounts (JanKey Frames, Bhupendra Paintola, Legends Revolution, gustakhedits, cricket_memer45, GemsOfCrickets, Crickaith, Sunny Upadhyay, @imRavY_), e-commerce platforms (Amazon, Flipkart), platform intermediaries (Meta Platforms Inc., X Corp., Google LLC / YouTube), and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Department of Telecommunications as proforma parties to facilitate implementation of any court order.

“My identity — my name, my face, my voice — has been weaponised by anonymous accounts to spread misinformation and generate revenue at my expense. This is not a matter of personal hurt; it is a matter of law, dignity, and the protection every public figure deserves in the age of artificial intelligence,” Gambhir said in a statement.

The plea has been filed under provisions of the Copyright Act, Trade Marks Act and Commercial Courts Act, and also refers to past rulings by the Delhi High Court that recognise personality rights, including cases involving Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Sunil Gavaskar.

In the lawsuit, "damages of Rs. 2.5 crore have been claimed, alongside prayers for rendition of accounts, permanent injunction, and takedown of all infringing content."

The suit seeks a permanent injunction restraining all defendants from using, reproducing, or exploiting Gambhir's name, image, voice, or persona — including through AI, deepfake technology, morphing, and face-swapping — without his express written consent.

An urgent application for ex-parte ad-interim injunction has simultaneously been filed under Order XXXIX Rules 1 & 2 CPC, requesting immediate takedown of all infringing content and a freeze on further dissemination pending final hearing.