A Chandigarh court has ordered Meta to remove an allegedly defamatory artificial intelligence-generated video featuring Punjab MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira from Facebook and Instagram.
Civil Judge (Junior Division) Kaushal Kumar Yadav issued the interim direction on August 12, holding that Khaira had established a prima facie case warranting protection against the continued circulation of the material.
The court observed that the disputed content appeared to be defamatory, objectionable and AI-generated, and said its continued availability could cause Khaira irreparable harm.
Meta has been directed to disable access to the identified video and related posts appearing on the Facebook page “Charda Punjab” and the Instagram account “Chard_apunjab”. The specified content and URLs are to be removed within 72 hours of Meta receiving the order.
Khaira, who represents Bholath in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, approached the court seeking permanent and mandatory injunctions along with protection of his reputation, dignity and personality rights.
According to his case, the video digitally superimposed his recognisable face, beard and turbaned Sikh appearance onto an AI-generated body dressed in an off-shoulder women’s outfit. Khaira alleged that the video had been circulated extensively, including beyond India, causing damage to his reputation.
His plea also raised concerns over the depiction of his turbaned Sikh identity in the manipulated video.
As the individuals operating the social media accounts could not be identified, they were named as Ashok Kumar or John Doe defendants. Khaira had also asked the court to direct Meta to provide basic subscriber information connected with the accounts.
Meta told the court that it functioned as an intermediary and had no personal knowledge of the disputed material, while stating that it would comply with any judicial directions.
The interim takedown order was granted, although the court did not expressly grant the request for disclosure of subscriber information at this stage.
The case is scheduled to come up next on September 14.
