Shilpa Shetty sues over AI deepfake misuse of identity
Actor Shilpa Shetty filed a civil suit in the Bombay High Court alleging that 27 defendants, including Meta, Google, and X, have used AI tools and deepfake technology to misuse her identity by cloning her voice and likeness, creating manipulated videos and merchandise, and circulating unauthorized content without her consent. She seeks protection of her personality and publicity rights.
What happened
Actor Shilpa Shetty filed a civil suit in the Bombay High Court against 27 defendants in November 2025, including Meta Platforms Inc., Google LLC, X Corp., the Ministry of Electronics and IT, and the Department of Telecommunications, alleging large-scale misuse of her identity through AI tools and deepfake technology.
According to the suit, defendants have extracted clips from her films to create GIFs, used AI to clone her voice, facial features and mannerisms, circulated morphed images and merchandise, and created deepfakes. The controversy surfaced when a fake 'Shilpa Shetty Award Show' promotion was discovered.
Reported impact
Shetty alleges that her name, image, likeness, voice, and other personal attributes are being commercially exploited without her consent, causing serious harm to her reputation through exposure to unsavoury humour, ridicule and baseless rumours.
Index analysis
The suit alleges infringement of personality rights, right to privacy, and moral rights under Section 38B of the Copyright Act, as well as dilution, unfair competition and passing off.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.