MUMBAI: Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has claimed in a proposed civil suit before the Bombay high court that he had no role in the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme or the E20 initiative, alleging that AI-generated deepfakes and manipulated online content falsely linked him and his family to financial gains from the policy.The Bombay high court on Monday granted Gadkari permission to file the suit against Meta Platforms, Google LLC, X Corp and others, seeking removal of allegedly “false, fabricated and defamatory” AI-generated videos and digital content.According to the proposed suit, the online posts and deepfakes wrongly portray Gadkari as the driving force behind the ethanol-blending programme and allege that he and his family benefited financially from it.However, the suit asserts that the EBP programme and the E20 initiative fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas, and not the ministry of road transport and highways headed by Gadkari.Officials from Gadkari’s Nagpur office also told TOI that the decision to implement ethanol blending was taken by the Union Cabinet, not by Gadkari’s ministry.The suit further states that its objective is not to curb public debate or criticism.“The purpose and object of filing the suit is not to curtail or prevent the public at large from engaging in discussion, debate, analysis or fair, just and bona fide criticism of any decision taken by the plaintiff himself or by his office,” the suit says.Instead, Gadkari argues that the disputed content consists of “false, fabricated, malicious, abusive and grossly defamatory” material that amounts to unauthorised use of his personality and publicity rights.His counsel, Sandeep Ladda, submitted before the high court that the allegedly defamatory content was accessible in Mumbai and elsewhere, warranting the court’s permission to institute the suit. Justice Abhay Ahuja granted leave to file the civil proceedings.Gadkari is seeking permanent injunctions directing social media platforms and other defendants to remove, disable and stop the circulation of the allegedly defamatory AI-generated content. The suit is expected to come up for hearing on interim relief on Tuesday.
