Delhi High Court Orders Take Down Of YouTube Channel Using Deepfake Impersonations Of Aaj Tak’s Anjana Om Kashyap
The Delhi High Court has ordered Google LLC to take down a “fake” YouTube channel using news clipping, videos and deepfake impersonations of Anjana Om Kashyap, anchor and Managing Editor (Special Projects) of Aaj Tak news channel.
Vacation judge Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that such fake YouTube pages or fake profiles being made using the goodwill of Kashyap and the news channel, including their, reputation and personality would be contrary to law.
The Court said that if fake Youtube pages using Kashyap’s name and image are allowed to come up and be disseminated, the same would violate her personality rights.
“The proliferation of fake youtube pages of a well known organisation or a Personality could result in enormous damage and dissemination of misinformation as the same would lack editorial control. Moreover, in the area of news broadcasting, responsibility has to be taken by the broadcaster and the anchor to ensure that incorrect or misleading news is not disseminated,” it said.
The suit was filed by TV Today Network Limited, the company which operates Aaj Tak news channel. In the interim, the news channel and Kashyap sought take down of the YouTube channel operating under the name “AnajanaomKashya.”
It was their case that the YouTube channel in question used the photograph of Kashyap, as also various fake videos, including purported news clippings etc., in a manner so as to depict that the same belonged to her.
Granting interim relief, Justice Singh said that even if the content is original content, the same cannot be permitted to be disseminated by anyone other than the news channel or Kashyap, who own the Broadcast Reproduction Rights in all their broadcasts.
“If the content is not genuine and is fake or fabricated, the Plaintiff no.1 company could also be made responsible for such fake news videos put up without its knowledge. It is also common knowledge that youtube pages are created for earning revenues and monetising the same. The use of the entire name of Plaintiff no.2, with just the deletion of the letter `p’, as also the image, voice etc., for commercial benefit is illegal and contrary to law,” the Court said.
The Court ordered that the Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) details of the person who had put up the YouTube channel in question shall be disclosed to the news channel within two weeks.
“The Defendant No. 1/ Google LLC shall also file an account of whatever revenues, if any, which may have been paid to this channel owner, within a period of four weeks,” the Court said.
It added: “In case any further YouTube pages or channels are identified by the Plaintiffs, consisting a fake profile of Plaintiff No.2, the URL shall be supplied by Defendant No.1 who shall take them down within 72 hours. If Google LLC does not take down the infringing content or objects to taking down the same for any reason, the reasons thereof shall be communicated to the Plaintiffs and the Plaintiffs, are free to move an application before this Court.”
The matter will now be heard by the roster bench on August 11.
Counsel for Plaintiff: Mr. Hrishikesh Barua & Mr. Utkarsh Dwivedi, Advs
Counsel for Defendants: Ms. Mamta R Jha, Mr. Rohan Ahuja, Ms. Shrutima Ehersa, Mr. Rahul Choudhary, Ms. Himani Sachdeva & Ms. Devanshi Raj, Advs
Title: T.V. TODAY NETWORK LIMITED v. GOOGLE LLC & ORS
