The Gujarat High Court issued notices to Meta India Google X Reddit and Scribd over deepfake misuse concerns. Bench led by Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal directed intermediaries to join Sahyog portal and ensure timely removal of unlawful AI content
The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to technology firms Meta India, Google, X, Reddit, and Scribd in connection with a public interest litigation seeking the creation of a stronger regulatory framework to stop the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) for generating and sharing deepfake videos and photographs. When it issued the notices, the court set them to be returnable on May 8.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D N Ray also directed the respondent intermediaries to ensure they are onboarded on the Sahyog portal to enable better coordination and time-bound action for removing unlawful content, strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Rules under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The court observed in an order passed recently and released this week:
“Effective and meaningful responses/action of the respondent intermediaries will be key to the due diligence obligations enforced upon them under the statutory framework,”
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In their affidavits, both the central and Gujarat governments told the court about frequent delays, repeated procedural requirements, and alleged non-compliance by some tech platforms with lawful notices issued to them.
In its affidavit filed in response to notices issued during a previous hearing, the Centre informed the court that in October 2024 it created the Sahyog portal. The Centre said the portal is intended to enable immediate, coordinated, and time-bound action against unlawful content by bringing authorised law enforcement agencies and intermediaries onto a single platform.
According to the Centre, the platform is meant to support quick removal of unlawful synthetically generated information and provide access to subscriber information, logs, and judicial evidence needed to identify offending users.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the court that while some intermediaries, including Meta and Google, have improved the speed, efficiency, and traceability of compliance actions, others have not yet been onboarded or fully integrated with the Sahyog portal.
The MHA specifically cited X for non-responsiveness to intimations it received about unlawful content, including synthetically generated material. It told the court that a total of 94 intimations were sent to X between 2024 and 2026 regarding unlawful content, but a formal response was received only in relation to 13 of them.
It stated,
“Although partial action has been reported by respondent no.7 intermediary (X) in disabling 788 notified URLs in 2024, seventy in 2025 and six in 2026, the alarming low rate of formal responses results in lack of meaningful cooperation with the lawfully issued directions,”
The MHA told the High Court,
“Such conduct not only amounts to breach of enhanced due diligence obligations cast upon the intermediaries under the amended IT Rules of 2026, but also severely impedes the ability of law enforcement agencies to ensure timely removal or disabling access to unlawful content and to carry out effective investigations,”
In the PIL, petitioner Vikas Nair has raised concerns about the widespread creation and circulation of AI-generated videos on digital platforms, which he says threatens public order and undermines the functioning of a healthy democracy.
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He also pointed to alleged government inaction in framing specific laws or regulatory mechanisms addressing deepfake, synthetic, and digitally manipulated media generated using AI. He argued that the existing legal framework in India, including the Information Technology Act, 2000 and related provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, is not adequate to effectively regulate the creation, dissemination, and circulation of fake and AI-generated videos on digital platforms.
The petitioner asked the High Court to direct the respondent governments to formulate a comprehensive and robust regulatory mechanism to prevent misuse of AI in generating and circulating fake videos and photographs.
The PIL further argued that there is an immediate need to curb the creation and use of such AI deepfakes, saying they quickly spread through society and create impacts that may lead to irreversible situations. It added that laws are needed to regulate the fast-paced advancement of technology.
On February 24, the High Court had issued notices to the Gujarat government as well as to the Centre, including the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, seeking their responses on the issue.
In its affidavit, the state government stated that in practice, lawful notices served on intermediaries often face frequent delays, repeated procedural obligations, and non-compliance by certain platforms.
The state said,
“In certain cases, even after issuing show-cause notices, reiterating the legal provisions and grounds for removal, the intermediaries fail to provide any substantive reply and do not remove the offending content. This results in continued public availability of unlawful material despite lawful notification,”
The state suggested that a robust regulatory framework should mandate immediate coordination mechanisms between the investigating authority and digital service providers. It proposed dedicated and expedited response timelines for intermediaries, real-time coordination and communication between enforcement agencies and intermediaries, internet service providers, and hosting platforms, among other measures.
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