Automatic takedown – The Hindu

The Delhi High Court has directed Google to employ its technological tools to detect and remove misleading advertisements featuring AI-generated images and videos of spiritual leader Sadhguru Jagadish Vasudev.

The court passed the order in favour of Sadhguru in his suit seeking protection of his personality rights being infringed by various rogue websites and unknown entities. Sadhguru had alleged that YouTube continued to host deepfake and misleading advertisements.

During the hearing on October 14, 2025, counsel for Google informed the court that the company had already taken down URLs identified in the previous order. The counsel further stated that additional URLs subsequently flagged by the Isha Foundation had also been removed.

On the other hand, counsel for Sadhguru pointed to other infringing videos still available on YouTube and argued that such content amounted to a “gross misrepresentation and falls within the category of misleading representation identified by Google Ads products in its advertisement policy.”

Automatic takedown

He emphasised that under Rule 4(4) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, Google is obligated to deploy technology capable of identifying and removing identical infringing content automatically to obviate the need to repeatedly approach it for takedown of identical content.

In response, Google’s counsel submitted that the company is willing to adopt a “collaborative approach” with Sadhguru and will continue cooperating in the removal of any future infringing material brought to its attention.

After hearing both sides, Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed the parties to hold a meeting where Sadhguru’s side can specifically identify misleading content that violates Google Ads’ policies.

The court further ordered that Google “must make an endeavour” to ensure that identical or similar infringing material is proactively removed through its technology, minimising the need for repeated takedown requests.

The court also allowed Google to file an affidavit in case it faces any technological limitations or reservations in complying with the order.