Delhi High Court directs Meta to remove alleged morphed images of woman, issues notices to CJP leaders

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has issued notices to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh over a woman's allegations that her photograph was morphed using artificial intelligence and circulated without her consent during a CJP protest at Jantar Mantar. The alleged morphed image showed the woman alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She has alleged that her photograph was manipulated using AI-based face-swapping technology and displayed on banners and posters during the protest before videos and images were circulated on social media.

The court directed Meta to immediately remove the objectionable photographs and links related to the woman from its platforms and, in any event, within 24 hours. The court also directed the Delhi Police to provide complete protection to the woman, who alleged that she had received threats following the circulation of the images.

The notices were issued to CJP leaders Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh on the woman's plea. An FIR had earlier been registered at the Cyber Police Station in New Delhi against unidentified persons in connection with the allegations. Although the four CJP leaders were named in the woman's complaint, they were not named as accused in the FIR. The Delhi Police was also directed to submit a status report on the progress of the investigation within two weeks.