Delhi High Court said that in case the social media intermediaries have reservations about any links given by Pawan Kalyan, they should inform him

The Delhi High Court on Friday (December 12, 2025) directed social media intermediaries to act within seven days on a plea by Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora issued the direction after noting that Mr. Kalyan had already approached the platforms with complaints regarding unauthorised use of his name and images.

The court instructed the intermediaries to treat Mr. Kalyan’s representation as a formal complaint under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and take necessary action.

Senior advocate J. Sai Deepak, appearing for Mr. Kalyan, submitted that the Deputy CM was distressed by AI-generated videos impersonating him on Google and by fake association content circulating on Meta platforms and e-commerce sites.

The court also directed Mr. Kalyan to supply within 48 hours the URLs he wants removed. The matter will be heard next on December 22.

Reference to Ajay Devgn case
Justice Arora reminded the parties of an earlier case involving actor Ajay Devgn. While granting interim relief to Mr. Devgn, the court had underlined that a person must first raise objections with social media intermediaries before approaching the judiciary.

Mr. Kalyan is seeking to prevent unauthorised commercial exploitation of his name, likeness and image.

In recent months, the Delhi High Court has seen a surge of public figures seeking similar protection. Actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek and Jaya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgn; filmmaker Karan Johar; singer Kumar Sanu; Telugu star Akkineni Nagarjuna; ‘Art of Living’ founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar; journalist Sudhir Chaudhary; and podcaster Raj Shamani have all secured interim relief.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan, Telugu actor N.T.R. Rao Junior and former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar have also approached the court with petitions aimed at safeguarding their personality rights.