Gujarat HC issues notices to Meta, X, Google over PIL seeking curb on misuse of AI

In an oral order, made available Monday, the High Court considered the affidavits submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), stating that SAHYOG portal was created in October 2024, “facilitating immediate, coordinated and time-bound action by bringing all authorised law enforcement agencies and intermediaries on a single platform, enabling swift takedown of unlawful synthetically generated information and access to subscriber information, logs and judicial evidence for identification of offending users”.

The Center informed the court that 524 IT intermediaries, including Meta and Google, had been onboarded on Sahyog Portal. Some intermediaries, including ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), have “not yet onboarded or fully integrated with the portal and often fail to respond to the statutory notices issued,” the Centre said. The Center highlighted the “non-responsiveness” of ‘X’ to the intimations given to it related to unlawful contents.

“A total of 94 intimations have been given to X, of which 60 intimations were given in 2024, 33 in 2025 and one in the current year, for a total of 1160 URLs containing unlawful contents…,” it said.

A formal response has been received only in 13 intimations — 12 of 2024 and one of 2025 and partial action has been reported in some of the URLs, the Centre said and emphasised on the “alarming low rate of formal responses”.

The court order states, “Taking note of these contentions made in the affidavits of the state government and the Union of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, it seems that the issues which need consideration by us essentially are about the strict enforcement and uniform implementation of the existing statutory regime in the larger public interest… Effective and meaningful responses/action of the respondent intermediaries will be key to the due diligence obligations enforced upon them under the statutory framework.”

In its affidavit, the state government submitted that even when show-cause notices are issued, the “intermediaries fail to provide any substantive reply and do not remove the offending content”. The state government added that intermediaries make “repeated demands for additional information”.

Directing the respondent intermediaries to reply to the affidavits of the MHA and the state government, the court order states, “We direct that the said respondents are required to answer to not only the stand of the petitioner, but also that of the State and the Central Government in the matter of practical implementation of the legislative framework and the institutional mechanisms developed for greater alignment of all intermediaries to ensure strict compliance of due diligence obligations under the Amended Rules of 2026. The response by the respondents no.5 to 9 shall be filed by the next date fixed…”

The court also sought the response of the respondent no.3, the Secretary, Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The court will next hear the matter on May 8.

The PIL, filed by advocate Vikas Vijay Nair, through advocate Amit Panchal, highlights how deepfake technology is being used to generate videos that “mimic real voices, facial expressions and body movements with startling accuracy” and seeks urgent judicial intervention with view to safeguarding “reputation, public trust and social harmony”.

The PIL contended that there is an immediate requirement to curb the creation and use of such AI deepfakes, which immediately penetrate the social fabric and create an impact which leads to irreversible situations. There is a need to frame laws regulating the fast-paced advancement technology, it said.