Delhi High Court Steps in to Protect Pawan Kalyan's Personality Rights

The Delhi High Court mandated social media platforms to address Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan's complaint about personality rights violations, stressing pre-court grievance mechanisms. Kalyan seeks urgent legal measures to curb AI-generated misuse of his persona, amidst growing concerns over synthetic media threats to public figures.

The Delhi High Court on Friday instructed major social media platforms to address a complaint by Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and actor Pawan Kalyan, regarding alleged infringements on his personality rights. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora ordered intermediary platforms to resolve the issue within a week, highlighting that existing legal grievance mechanisms should be utilized before engaging the court.

The court further directed Kalyan to provide links to alleged infringing content within two days. If the intermediaries have concerns, they can communicate directly with the plaintiff. This matter will be revisited on December 22. Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak, representing Kalyan, noted the lack of adequate responses from intermediaries, despite previous communications adhering to guidelines set in the Ajay Devgan personality-rights case, which left several infringing materials accessible online.

Justice Arora clarified that Kalyan could submit specific URLs to the intermediaries to prompt necessary action within the designated timeframe. The court will review intermediary actions in ten days. Meanwhile, Kalyan has sought urgent protection from the High Court due to unauthorized digital exploitation of his identity. Amid rising concerns of AI-driven impersonations, Kalyan, notable in politics and Telugu cinema, emphasizes his exclusive rights to control his digital persona.

(With inputs from agencies.)