Bombay HC Directs Meta, Google To Take Down Defamatory Content Against Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

The Bombay High Court (HC) on Wednesday (August 5) reportedly directed Meta, Google and other intermediaries to take down allegedly defamatory and AI-generated deepfake content targeting Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and linking him and his family to the Centre’s E20 ethanol-blending programme.

Hearing Gadkari’s suit, Justice Arif Doctor observed that the material placed before the court was “absolutely vile and abusive”, as per a report by Bar and Bench.

“The material which the plaintiff seeks to pull down… is absolutely vile and abusive. Such material should have no place on a public platform, which is accessible to everyone, including the young,” the court said while granting interim relief.

During the hearing, Meta and Google informed the court that they would remove the content identified by Gadkari in the suit. Accepting their submissions, the court directed that the flagged material be taken down.

The court further ruled that if Gadkari identifies additional defamatory, AI-generated deepfake content in the future, he can notify the intermediaries, which will be required to take appropriate action. In cases where there is uncertainty over whether the content is unlawful, the platforms will be free to approach the court for clarification.

The court also urged Meta and Google to develop a mechanism for addressing such complaints without requiring affected individuals to seek judicial intervention each time. The matter has been posted for further hearing after four weeks.

Gadkari’s suit seeks permanent and mandatory injunctions directing the removal of manipulated videos, images and other AI-generated content that he claims falsely links him to the government’s E20 ethanol-blending policy.

According to the petition, the content falsely attributes personal responsibility to Gadkari for introducing or mandating E20 petrol and alleges that he and his family benefited financially from the programme.

The suit also contends that several posts, reels and videos falsely accuse the Union minister of introducing the E20 programme and blame him for vehicle damage allegedly caused by ethanol-blended fuel. 

While seeking the removal of the content, Gadkari clarified that he was not attempting to restrict fair criticism of government policy or his public role. He argued that the challenged posts contain fabricated visuals, fake quotes and abusive language that fall outside the scope of legitimate criticism or political satire.

This adds to the string of face offs between the Central government and social media intermediaries. The clashes have picked up these days. For instance, a parliamentary panel raised concerns yesterday over the removal of a Facebook video featuring PM Narendra Modi addressing students on examination controversies and paper leaks. 

Separately, the Delhi Police also recently asked social media platforms to remove allegedly objectionable posts and videos targeting the PM that were shared during the student protests at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

Beyond Meta and X, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also said that the Indian government had asked GitHub to take down repositories linked to bitchat, an open-source messaging app that enables communication over Bluetooth mesh networks without internet access.

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