Actor Akshay Kumar seeks Bombay High Courts safety towards deepfake misuse

Actor Akshay Kumar has approached the Bombay High Court looking for pressing safety of his character rights amid rampant misuse by way of deepfake movies, AI-generated content material, and counterfeit endorsements. He alleged that unidentified entities have been illegally commercialising his persona by cloning his voice, creating obscene blogs, and circulating manipulated media throughout social media platforms. 

Justice Arif Doctor heard the matter on Wednesday (October 15, 2025) and reserved the order after submissions. 

Senior advocate Birendra Saraf, showing for Mr. Kumar, argued that the size and pace of those infringements had made it “inconceivable for the Plaintiff to trace every occasion or establish every infringer contemporaneously.”  

He submitted to the court docket, “This content material has very critical penalties. It shouldn’t be solely a menace to him and his household however to the general public at massive. The fabricated clips attributed to a public determine of Akshay Kumar’s affect, might result in fast public reactions earlier than any clarification might be issued.” 

Mr. Saraf cited a number of examples of impersonation. One was a viral trailer falsely displaying Mr. Kumar as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a movie he by no means featured in. The clip drew practically 20 lakh views earlier than being taken down after protests.  

Another manipulated video depicted Mr. Kumar making remarks about Rishi Valmiki, which led to demonstrations in a number of areas. 

He additionally pointed to AI-driven platforms that clone Mr. Kumar’s voice and picture. One web site even presents an “AI Akshay Kumar V2 Voice” device that may generate speech in his tone and magnificence from any textual content enter. In addition, Mr. Saraf highlighted obscene blogs, pretend endorsements, and social media accounts misusing Kumar’s images, together with digital stickers and merchandise offered below his identify. 

Some of this materials, he famous, seems to originate from the darkish net, making it extraordinarily troublesome to hint these accountable. 

The actor’s petition seeks a everlasting and necessary John Doe (court docket order issued towards unknown people) injunction towards unknown individuals, social media platforms, and web sites to restrain unauthorised exploitation of his identify, display identify “Akshay Kumar,” picture, likeness, voice, distinctive efficiency type, and different identifiable attributes.