Bombay HC admits Preity Zinta plea against social media, AI firms in deepfake dispute - The…

In June 2024, the Bombay High Court granted actor Preity Zinta permission to file a lawsuit against over a dozen companies, including social media platforms and AI image-generation firms. The legal action addresses the unauthorized use of Zinta’s persona, alleging that AI-generated deepfake videos and digital content have breached her personality rights and copyrights while damaging her professional goodwill.

What happened

Zinta’s petition names a wide array of respondents, including Google LLC, X Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Alibaba Cloud Computing, and various AI technology providers such as Character Technologies Inc and Neural Love OU. The legal proceedings were initiated under Clause XII of the Letters Patent, a procedural step required because parts of the cause of action arise outside the court’s territorial jurisdiction.

Counsel for the actor argued that as an Indian national residing and working in Mumbai, her reputation, persona, and physical features fall under the court's jurisdiction. The legal team contended that the dissemination of the offending materials is occurring on a global scale. The suit asserts that these unauthorized digital representations violate Zinta’s moral rights under the Copyright Act, specifically targeting the erosion of her goodwill and personal identity through the proliferation of AI-manipulated content. The court’s decision to admit the plea marks a significant development in the ongoing discourse regarding personality rights and the accountability of digital platforms in the era of generative artificial intelligence.