In his petition, Gambhir has cited multiple social media accounts, intermediaries and e-commerce platforms as defendants.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has moved the Delhi High Court seeking relief against what he described as misuse of his identity through artificial intelligence (AI) tools, deepfakes, and unauthorized commercial use.
In his petition, Gambhir has cited multiple social media accounts, intermediaries and e-commerce platforms as defendants. The lawsuit aims to restrain the defendants from using his name, image, voice, or persona without his consent.
The complaint is filed against 16 defendants including identified social media accounts (JanKey Frames, Bhupendra Paintola, Legends Revolution, gustakhedits, cricket_memer45, GemsOfCrickets, Crickaith, Sunny Upadhyay, @imRavY_), e-commerce platforms (Amazon, Flipkart), platform intermediaries (Meta Platforms Inc., X Corp., Google LLC / YouTube).
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications have been included as proforma parties to help implement any court order.
The former India opener has also requested an immediate ex-parte ad-interim injunction for the removal of all such content and to stop further circulation until the case is heard.
“My identity, my name, my face, my voice — has been weaponised by anonymous accounts to spread misinformation and generate revenue at my expense. This is not a matter of personal hurt; it is a matter of law, dignity, and the protection every public figure deserves in the age of artificial intelligence,” Gambhir said, framing the issue as one of legal protection in the age of AI.
As per the press release, “Beginning in 2025, Gambhir’s legal team documented a sharp and alarming increase in fabricated digital content across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Facebook.”
“Multiple accounts deployed artificial intelligence, face-swapping, and voice-cloning technologies to create realistic videos falsely depicting Gambhir making statements he never made — including a fraudulent “resignation announcement” that garnered over 29 lakh views,” the release added.
The suit invokes provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957, Trade Marks Act, 1999, and the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. It also refers to earlier Delhi High Court rulings that recognise personality rights, including cases involving Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Sunil Gavaskar.
Gambhir has sought damages of Rs. 2.5 crore, along with a permanent injunction, removal of content and rendition of accounts.