Janhvi Kapoor has received interim protection from the Delhi High Court against the unauthorised use of her identity in obscene, pornographic and commercially exploitative online content. At the same time, the court has refused to extend that protection to a blanket ban on fan pages.

The actor approached the court after identifying more than 5,000 webpages and social media posts that allegedly used her name, image or identity without consent. The material cited in her plea includes alleged AI-generated pornographic content, impersonation accounts, fake booking agencies and chatbots using her identity.

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Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, while hearing Kapoor’s plea, asked her legal team to provide a detailed list of webpages carrying material that is clearly obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit. The court has also indicated that content using Kapoor’s identity to promote or sell goods and services without authorisation can be considered for removal.

The order, however, does not cover every online page featuring the actor.

The court expressed reservations about removing fan pages in their entirety. Such pages may contain appreciation, criticism, satire, photographs or general discussion about a public figure. Treating all of them as unlawful use of Kapoor’s identity could therefore go beyond the protection of personality rights.

Kapoor had also sought a dynamic injunction that would cover future instances of alleged infringement. The court declined to grant such a blanket direction at this stage, indicating that each situation may need to be assessed based on the nature of the content and how the actor’s identity is being used.

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AI-generated material is another significant aspect of the case. Kapoor’s plea includes alleged digitally created pornographic content featuring her identity. Meta, which opposed parts of the petition, raised concerns about the practical difficulty of reviewing thousands of links. Its counsel also argued that AI-generated images are not automatically prohibited simply because they are created using artificial intelligence.

The proceedings also touch upon copyright. The court considered whether selling a photograph, artwork or other creative work featuring a celebrity would automatically amount to commercial exploitation of that celebrity’s personality. Copyright in such a work would generally belong to its creator, such as a photographer or artist, making copyright and personality rights separate issues that may need to be examined independently.

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The Janhvi Kapoor case comes amid a growing number of personality-rights proceedings involving celebrities and public figures. The Delhi High Court has previously dealt with similar claims involving names such as Tabu, Sonakshi Sinha, Allu Arjun, Mohanlal, Arjun Kapoor, Ravi Kishan, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh.