Gadkari takes his deepfake fight to the courtroom — and to Meta’s doorstep
When AI-generated videos and viral posts began falsely tying Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and his family to profits from India’s ethanol policy, the response wasn’t a press statement — it was a lawsuit spanning some of the world’s biggest tech platforms.
The Bombay High Court has granted Gadkari permission to file a civil suit over allegedly defamatory deepfake content linking him and his family to financial gains from the Centre’s E20 ethanol-blending programme, according to a report by Bar and Bench.
The Union Transport Minister moved the petition under clause XII of the Letters Patent, a provision used when part of the cause of action originates outside the court’s territorial jurisdiction.
The list of defendants reads like a who’s-who of Big Tech: Meta — parent company of Facebook and Instagram — along with X Corp, Google LLC, and YouTube, as well as India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications. Since the actual creators of the content remain unidentified, they’ve been listed in the suit as “Ashok Kumars/John Does” — placeholder names for unknown parties.
The case was heard by Justice Abhay Ahuja, with advocate Sandeep S. Ladda representing Gadkari and requesting leave to file the suit. The argument centered on reach: the disputed content, Ladda contended, was accessible to users in Mumbai, meaning a significant part of the case’s origin sat squarely within the court’s jurisdiction. Justice Ahuja granted that leave, clearing the way for Gadkari to proceed against Meta and the other named entities.
At the center of the dispute is a factual mismatch Gadkari’s team is eager to highlight. The petition argues that the E20 ethanol-blending initiative actually falls under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas — not Gadkari’s own Ministry of Road Transport and Highways — making the viral claims factually incorrect from the outset. Gadkari has publicly labeled the allegations “completely baseless, false and defamatory,” arguing they were designed to mislead the public and damage his reputation.
This isn’t an isolated flashpoint either. The civil suit follows a separate criminal FIR filed in Nagpur roughly two weeks earlier against four social media influencers accused of spreading misinformation about the minister and the fuel policy — a sign that the legal pushback against E20-related content has been building for a while.
Beyond the lawsuit, Gadkari has asked the court to order the immediate removal of the deepfake videos and related posts, along with restraining orders to prevent further sharing or amplification of the material.
The case unfolds against the backdrop of an already contentious rollout: E20, a blend of 20% ethanol and 80% petrol, has drawn criticism from motorists and online voices who claim it reduces fuel efficiency and risks engine damage, even as the government maintains the policy is safe and necessary for energy security.
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