Delhi High Court grants Kangana Ranaut interim protection and orders 72-hour deepfake takedowns

In an order dated 8 October 2026, reported on 12 October, Justice Vikas Mahajan of the Delhi High Court granted actor Kangana Ranaut interim protection of her personality rights. Meta Platforms was directed to remove and permanently take down the flagged content within 72 hours of being served. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications were directed to have internet and telecom providers block the identified infringing websites in the same period, and all must file compliance affidavits within two weeks. Defendants, including unidentified John Doe parties, are barred from using her personality attributes without authorisation, including creating accounts or pages that falsely suggest endorsement or affiliation. Ranaut may report newly discovered infringing URLs or accounts without filing a fresh suit, and a blocked site that is not primarily infringing may ask the court to modify the injunction by giving an undertaking. The court said the protection extended to AI-generated, morphed, sexual and explicit deepfake content. Two defendants that had already removed the disputed material were deleted from the case. The matter is listed before the Joint Registrar on 4 December 2026 and before the court on 3 February 2027.

Why it matters for digital humans: This is one of several Indian personality-rights orders in recent weeks, and the mechanics are converging into something like a standard template: John Doe injunctions, a fixed takedown clock, ministry-level blocking orders, and a dynamic-injunction clause that lets the claimant add URLs without returning to court. For anyone building avatar or likeness products with Indian users, the practical effect is that a named individual can obtain a continuously extensible blocking order on short notice. Consent provenance — who authorised this face and voice, and can you produce the record inside 72 hours — is becoming an operational requirement rather than a policy page.