Delhi HC Orders Removal Of Select Defamatory Posts Against MP Raghav Chadha, Says Political Satire Is Not Defamation

New Delhi, July 1: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed social media platforms to remove certain objectionable posts targeting MP Raghav Chadha, while refusing to order the takedown of most of the content flagged by him.

Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that a public figure should be prepared to face criticism and said, “A public figure should not be so thin-skinned as to complain about any criticism of his decisions, and such criticism ought to be viewed with humility,” PTI reports.

Chadha, who has exited the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the BJP, had approached the High Court seeking removal of alleged malicious, fabricated and AI-generated social media posts, claiming they were damaging to his reputation and personality rights.

Court Distinguishes Satire From Defamatory Content

In its 19-page interim order, the court said some of the posts identified by Chadha were malicious and defamatory, but noted that the “majority” were “satirical expressions of the plaintiff's decisions in the political sphere”.

Justice Prasad held that criticism expressed through satire does not automatically become defamatory.

“Any action by a politician belonging to any political party will, in most, if not all circumstances, invite criticism from, upset, or create turmoil amongst, the general public or members from rival political parties, which may at times be expressed in the form of satirical humour. However, that does not automatically make such content offensive or defamatory,” the order said.

It further observed, “Public figures assuming such positions of power must accept being at the receiving end of the satirical humour as a necessary and inevitable aspect of their profession, though unpleasant.”

The court, however, found that some posts contained explicit, profane and vulgar content beyond the scope of “harmless satirical humour” and directed social media platforms to remove the links within two weeks until further orders. It also directed the platforms to provide Chadha with the Basic Subscriber Information and IP logs of the accounts associated with those posts.

Court Limits Defamation Plea

While stressing the need to strike a “fair balance”, the court said it was not endorsing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create deepfake videos, morphed images and similar content intended to harm an individual's dignity. At the same time, it acknowledged that AI was increasingly being used to express opinions on social media in the political sphere.

The court also observed that, prima facie, Chadha's suit did not concern the protection of personality rights, which relate to controlling and protecting the commercial exploitation of a person's image, name and identity. It noted that Chadha did not press arguments on personality rights and limited his plea to defamation.

The court had reserved its order on interim relief on May 21 after hearing Chadha's plea seeking the immediate removal of false, AI-generated and deepfake content circulating on social media. The petition alleged that such manipulated content infringed his legal and constitutional rights.

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