The Bombay High Court has directed major tech companies, including Meta, Google, and X Corp, to immediately remove AI-generated deepfakes and defamatory posts that falsely accuse Union Minister Nitin Gadkari of corruption related to the government's E20 ethanol-blending program.
Presiding over the case on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Justice Arif Doctor granted ad-interim relief to the minister, describing the manipulated content as "absolutely vile and abusive". The single-judge bench strongly criticized the social media platforms for failing to self-regulate, questioning why they lack automated triggers to delete offensive content without requiring individuals to seek judicial intervention.
The ruling stems from an ₹11 crore defamation suit filed by Gadkari through his advocate, Sandeep S. Ladda. According to the petition, unidentified users circulated fabricated videos blaming the Road Transport and Highways Minister for mandating the E20 fuel blend (20 percent ethanol and 80 percent petrol) and alleging that the fuel damages vehicle engines.
More severely, the deepfakes claimed that Gadkari's family—specifically his son, Nikhil Gadkari, through an ethanol manufacturing company called CIAN Agro Industries—derived undue financial benefits from the national policy.
Gadkari's plea categorically denied these allegations, clarifying that the E20 initiative is administered entirely by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, not his department. The minister maintained that while he welcomes bona fide criticism of public policy, the fabricated posts cross the line into malicious defamation and violate his publicity rights.
During the hearing, legal representatives for Meta and Google agreed to remove the specific URLs highlighted in the minister's complaint. In a move to streamline content moderation, the court also granted Gadkari the liberty to directly notify the platforms of any similar deepfakes that surface in the future, mandating their prompt removal without needing a fresh court order.
The court has scheduled the matter for a follow-up hearing in four weeks.