Nitin Gadkari Allowed to Sue Tech Giants in Bombay High Court Over Deepfakes

The Bombay High Court on Monday granted Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari permission to file a proposed civil suit against Meta Platforms, Google LLC, X Corp, and others. The suit seeks the removal of allegedly false, fabricated, and defamatory AI-generated videos and digital content circulating online.

In his proposed suit, Gadkari claimed that he had no role in the Ethanol Blended Petrol programme or the E20 initiative. He alleged that AI-generated deepfakes and manipulated online content falsely linked him and his family to financial gains from the government's ethanol policy.

The proposed suit asserts that the Ethanol Blended Petrol programme and the E20 initiative fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and not the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways headed by Gadkari. Officials from Gadkari's Nagpur office also stated that the decision to implement ethanol blending was taken by the Union Cabinet rather than Gadkari's ministry.

According to the legal suit, online posts and deepfakes wrongly portray Gadkari as the driving force behind the ethanol-blending programme. The suit further states that its objective is not to curb public debate or criticism, but to target fabricated and defamatory content.