MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday directed Meta Platforms Inc to immediately remove fraudulent social media accounts impersonating hospitality and gaming major Delta Corp Ltd and an AI-generated deepfake video targeting the company.The court passed the urgent interim directions while hearing Delta Corp’s plea challenging the suspension of its social media accounts by Meta, which the company claimed was unlawful, without notice and without sufficient reason.Justice Abhay Ahuja, sitting singly, had on July 2 directed Meta to preserve content from the suspended handles until the dispute was resolved.Delta’s counsel Kunal Dwarkadas said Meta had given “six different contradictory reasons” for suspending the company’s accounts.He argued that the issue concerned the “accountability and transparency” of actions by a digital media intermediary and said Meta had failed to disable several accounts impersonating Delta, including one carrying an AI-generated video that had caused the company “reputational loss”.Delta, represented by RJD and Partners, told the court that it was not involved in online gaming, which the court observed is prohibited in India.The disputed video purportedly showed Delta chairman Jaydev Mody announcing the launch of an online casino. The court noted that the video also featured sports and film personalities and industrialists.After viewing the video in court, justice Ahuja observed that although it was submitted to be a deepfake, it appeared real, demonstrating the extent to which technology can make deepfakes and impersonations convincing.Meta’s counsel Amey Gokhale sought another week to file a detailed response to Delta’s challenge to the account suspension. He said that if directed by the court, Meta would be “duty bound” to remove or disable unauthorised impersonation accounts.The HC said interim relief ought to be granted and, pending final disposal of the matter, directed Meta to remove the impersonating accounts and the “AI-generated fake video”, which Delta said it had brought to Meta’s notice on August 5.
