Akshay Kumar Approaches Bombay HC Over Deepfake, AI-Generated Content Misuse- Deets Inside

Akshay Kumar has joined the longlist of Bollywood celebrities approaching courts across India to safeguard their personality rights against their misuse via AI and deepfake. According to recent reports, after Karan Johar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and other approached the Delhi High Court to safeguard themselves, Akshay has approached the Bombay HC for the same.

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Kumar’s suit – Akshay Hari Om Bhatia vs Ashok Kumar – seeks to restrain the ongoing infringement and unauthorised commercial exploitation of his personality and publicity rights – including his actual name, screen name, image, likeness, voice, distinctive performance style, mannerisms, and other identifiable attributes. The suit stems from the large-scale misuse of the Kumar’s persona through AI-generated and deepfake images and videos, counterfeit merchandise, deceptive advertisements, false brand endorsements, and impersonating social media profiles on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X and various e-commerce websites.

Bombay High Court To Protect Akshay Kumar Against Misuse Of Deepfake Videos

As reported by Bar And Bench, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday stated that it will pass an ad-interim order protecting actor Akshay Kumar. Justice Arif Doctor reserved the case for judgment on Wednesday after an elaborate hearing.

Senior advocate Birendra Saraf, who appeared for Kumar, submitted that the proliferation of manipulated media portraying the actor in false contexts had caused serious reputational harm and posed risks to public order. Saraf told the Court, “This content has very serious consequences. It is not only a threat to him and his family but to the public at large.” He also stressed that fabricated clips attributed to a public figure of Kumar’s influence could lead to immediate public reactions before any clarification could be issued.

Saraf also listed multiple instances of the actor being impersonated by AI, Deepfake such as a trailer falsely depicting Kumar as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a film in which he had no role. This video – which garnered nearly 20 lakh views, was removed after protests. Another manipulated clip showed the actor making statements about Rishi Valmiki, resulting in demonstrations in several parts of the country.

Kumar’s Advocate Shares Details

Birendra Saraf also highlighted that several AI tools and online platforms clone Kumar’s voice and image following simple prompts. One website, Saraf said, hosts an ‘AI Akshay Kumar V2 Voice’ feature that can generate speech in the actor’s tone and style when text is entered. Several obscene blogs, fake endorsements, and social media accounts using Kumar’s photographs were also cited alongside digital stickers and merchandise being sold under his name. Birendra added that some content originated from the dark web, thus making the perpetrators difficult to trace.

Saraf clarified that Akshay Kumar was not seeking to block entire websites, but only specific pages or links hosting defaming, fake content. He said, “We have restricted the prayer to obtaining the identities of domain account holders.”

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Also Read: Akshay Kumar Advices Newcomers To Stay Away From 3 Films Deals; Tells Karan Johar, “Give Them The Freedom To Explore”

Grinell Jacinto

With nearly 10 years of experience, Grinell Esther Jacinto is the Desk Head of Bollywood Bubble. Her interests lie in everything that is kaleshi and she loves to dig deeper into the lives of B-town actors. She has a problem though – she loves horror films but will have chills the minute the theatres lights dims. She’s previously worked with Koimoi, UrbanAsian and SpotboyE.