The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed social media platforms to take down artificial intelligence-generated deepfake videos linking Union minister Nitin Gadkari to a row about the government’s ethanol-blending programme, Live Law reported.

Justice Arif Doctor ordered that the posts be removed, finding that the material Gadkari had cited in his suit was “per se defamatory”.

On July 27, Justice Abhay Ahuja of the High Court had allowed the road transport and highways minister to file a civil suit against technology firms Meta, Google and X for allegedly defamatory content being shared on their platforms linking him to the ethanol-blending programme.

The Union government has mandated that all petrol sold in the country be blended with 20% ethanol – a substance produced from sugarcane and food grain. The policy is aimed at reducing India’s dependency on fossil fuels, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and boosting income for sugarcane farmers.

The initiative has been criticised by vehicle owners who have alleged that E20 fuel was reducing mileage and damaging cars.

Gadkari, in his petition before the High Court, said that the E20 programme was being administered by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and that he had no role in it.

He alleged that the social media content linking him to the programme consisted of “profane and abusive language” directed at him, which cannot be considered “legitimate political criticism or satire”.

The minister also claimed that the content unlawfully uses his personality and publicity rights without his consent.

Consumer concerns about E20 petrol

The AI-generated videos of Gadkari were posted amid criticism of the E20 policy.

An opinion poll by LocalCircles published on July 5 showed that 53% of the surveyed petrol vehicle owners said that they believe that the government’s handling of the E20 rollout was “disastrous” or “ineffective”.

Sixty-six percent of the respondents said that they were experiencing a more than 10% drop in mileage with E20. Forty-five percent of the surveyed users said that their cars had suffered a moderate to major increase in wear and tear, or needed repairs, according to the polling conducted in June.

A report in October, which analysed government and industry data, said that only about 20% of new petrol vehicles sold in India in the last 15 years were compliant with the E20 fuel blend.

Gadkari has been defending the ethanol blending policy, claiming on July 9 that no car in the country was facing problems because of E20 petrol.

He has also been quoted as having maintained that the policy had been framed collectively by several government departments and was not his decision alone. “The entire process is conducted after consultation with the petroleum ministry, the Cabinet and scientific research,” he had said.

He has claimed that while the average mileage of vehicles may have marginally reduced because of blending petrol with ethanol, the claims made online about damage to cars are “overblown” and part of a “false narrative”.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

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