The Delhi High Court has directed major social media intermediaries to act within three days on a complaint filed by actor Salman Khan, who has sought protection against the unauthorised use of his name, image, persona and likeness on various online platforms.
Khan has approached the court to stop social media and e-commerce entities from circulating or selling merchandise using his identity without permission. During the hearing, Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said she will issue a detailed interim restraining order against other non-intermediary entities allegedly selling such products.
“I will pass the stay order qua others,” the judge said, noting that further directions will follow once the details of the defendant e-marketplaces and merchandise are placed on record.
The court instructed social media intermediaries to treat Khan’s lawsuit as a formal complaint under the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and to take necessary steps within three days. If any platform has reservations about specific web links flagged by the actor, it must inform him.
Justice Arora also reminded Khan’s counsel of her earlier order in the Ajay Devgn matter, where she clarified that plaintiffs must first lodge their protest with intermediaries before moving the court. Similar directions were issued recently in the personality-rights suit filed by Telugu actor Jr NTR.
Appearing for Khan, senior advocate Sandeep Sethi sought parallel directions against other entities allegedly misusing the actor’s persona. The court asked him to provide full particulars of such e-commerce platforms and the merchandise they are selling.
Recording the submissions, the court said, “Counsel for plaintiff states that similar directions be issued to defendant no. 2,3,4,6 (social media intermediaries) to treat the plaint as a complaint to them as per the IT Rules, 2021. Counsel for the said defendants accept notice.”
The matter will be heard again on May 18, 2026.
The suit forms part of a wider trend of celebrities approaching courts to safeguard their publicity and personality rights. The Delhi High Court has recently granted interim relief to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, filmmaker Karan Johar, singer Kumar Sanu, Telugu actor Nagarjuna, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, and podcaster Raj Shamani.
