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India National Cricket Team star batter Abhishek Sharma has moved to the Delhi High Court, as he claimed that his image and identity are being misused on the internet.
Abhishek Sharma, who is currently on the England tour with Team India, asked the High Court to protect his personality rights, as some online content is using his name and pictures in a misleading way. Recently, Ishan Kishan replaced Abhishek Sharma as No.1 T20I batter.
Abhishek Sharma moves Delhi High Court over online misuse of his identity
As reported by Bar and Bench, Abhishek Sharma’s case was heard by Justice Jyoti Singh. The court has already started examining the web links mentioned in the Indian cricketer’s petition, seeking protection of his personality rights on the digital world.
The Delhi High Court looked at different posts and images that the left-handed batter believes are harming his public image during the hearing.
However, the court did not pass any final order during the hearing but decided to hear the matter again on July 9 because some issues in the petition still need to be clarified. Amid this, Indian coach explains T20 struggles under Shreyas Iyer, outlines 2028 World Cup vision.
Meta says some web links are no longer available
During the hearing, Meta's lawyer Varun Pathak told the court that eight web links were being discussed at this stage. He said that two of those links were no longer working.
He also argued that one of the remaining links looked like a normal celebrity paparazzi post and did not appear to violate Abhishek Sharma's personality rights.
He stated, “There are 8 URLs; 2 of them are not accessible. One URL is paparazzi-kind of kind, but it is not in the lines of personality rights.”
Abhishek Sharma's lawyer blames AI-Edited image
But Abhishek’s lawyer strongly disagreed, as the issue was not about a paparazzi photograph. The lawyer claimed that Abhishek was originally standing with his manager, but the image was edited using artificial intelligence and presented in a completely different way, creating a false impression.
Abhishek’s lawyer told the court: “What is it indicating? Is it that he is crying on the shoulders of another, and it's an AI-generated image? It is not a paparazzi issue. He has clicked with the manager and then given it a different color using artificial intelligence.”
Delhi High Court highlights AI challenge
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court observed that cases involving personality rights and defamation are becoming more complicated while hearing the arguments. The court noted that AI-generated images and edited content are becoming more common on social media, making it tough to judge things.
The Delhi High Court said, "We also find this every day where there is a thin line between defamation and personality rights. It is in flux. There is a little overlap. Defamatory matter may have a personality rights element. Pathak: If someone were to say something that is untrue or unsavory, that will fall in a different category. So, that will probably be defamation or privacy. What starts happening is, in multiple suits, people start reporting content that is defamatory.”
Meta raises concern over huge jump in reported links
To which Meta's lawyer told the court that the number of links mentioned in the case has increased unexpectedly, so checking and taking action on such a huge number of links is not an easy task. He also argued that Meta cannot be expected to remove every post made about a public figure simply because it has been reported.
Varun Pathak said at the court, “The plaintiff approached the court for 25 URLs. They have escalated 4000 URLs. Now it becomes impossible for us, because then they want to clean up the internet of anything anyone says against them.”
