The Bombay High Court has granted Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari permission to file a civil lawsuit against tech giants Meta Platforms, X Corp, and Google LLC.

The legal action targets allegedly defamatory AI-generated deepfake videos and manipulated content linked to India’s ethanol-blended fuel policy.

Key Highlights of the Lawsuit

Platform Accountability: The suit targets Meta, X, Google, and YouTube alongside unnamed digital content creators.

Policy Clarification: Gadkari states he has no personal role or nexus with the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) or E20 initiative.

Target Ministry: The EBP and E20 programs are administered exclusively by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Union Respondents: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Telecommunications are also named as respondents.

Allegations of Financial Gain and Personality Abuse

In his plea, Gadkari alleged that unknown bad actors circulated deepfake posts falsely portraying him as personally responsible for the E20 policy. Moreover, the posts falsely claimed that Gadkari and his family financially profited from the initiative.

The suit emphasizes that these videos amount to an unauthorized exploitation of his publicity and personality rights. It further notes that abusive language used in the deepfakes crosses the boundary of legitimate political criticism or satire.

“The suit does not seek to stifle fair criticism, dissent, debate, or bona fide expression concerning public life, governmental policies, or official functions,” the plea clarified.

Justice Abhay Ahuja granted Gadkari leave under Clause XII of the Letters Patent to institute the suit in the Bombay High Court. Advocate Sandeep S. Ladda represented the minister during the hearing.

The court will hear Gadkari’s application for interim relief and temporary injunctions. This application requests the removal and takedown of the defamatory content at a later date.

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