The Delhi High Court has granted interim protection to Indian cricketer Abhishek Sharma against the unauthorised use of his name, image and likeness, restraining social media accounts and online sellers from exploiting his personality through AI-generated content, deepfakes and unauthorised merchandise.
Justice Jyoti Singh, in an order passed on July 9, held that Mr. Sharma had established a prima facie case for protection of his personality and publicity rights.
Mr Sharma had filed the suit against various defendants, including unidentified persons, several Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.
The plea said that several social media accounts had been circulating AI-generated and morphed images depicting the cricketer in fabricated and obscene situations, while others allegedly spread false rumours through manipulated videos and captions. The plaintiff also alleged that several online merchants were selling T-shirts, jerseys, posters and photo frames carrying his name and likeness without authorisation.
The court noted that Mr. Sharma is a “prominent player of the Indian National Team and is widely recognised as a rising and influential figure in international cricket also having attained the No. 1 position in ICC Men’s T20 International rankings”.
Several public figures, like actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and podcaster Raj Shamani had earlier approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights. The high court granted them interim relief.
Recently, the High Court also protected the personality rights of politician Shashi Tharoor, cricketer Gautam Gambhir and actors Sonakshi Sinha, Vivek Oberoi, Arun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Allu Arjun by granting interim relief.
Published - July 14, 2026 10:51 am IST