Justice Abhay Ahuja of the Bombay High Court on 27 July 2026 granted Union Minister Nitin Gadkari leave to file a civil defamation suit against Meta, X Corp, Google LLC, YouTube and unidentified entities over the online spread of alleged deepfake and AI-generated content.
The case, titled Nitin Gadkari v. Meta Platforms Inc & Ors., centres on posts and videos that allegedly portray Gadkari and his family as having personally profited from the government's E20 ethanol-blending programme. Gadkari's counsel argued that the E20 policy is administered by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, not his ministry, making the claims false and defamatory.
Gadkari moved the petition under Clause XII of the Letters Patent, a procedural route used when part of the cause of action arises outside the High Court's territorial jurisdiction. His counsel submitted that the disputed content was accessible to users in Mumbai, establishing a substantial link to the city.
Unknown creators and disseminators of the content have been named as John Doe and Ashok Kumar entities in the proposed suit, alongside the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications as defendants.
The civil action follows a criminal FIR registered in Nagpur approximately two weeks ago against four social media influencers accused of spreading false information about the minister and the fuel rollout.
The broader dispute reflects intensifying public debate around E20, a 20 percent ethanol, 80 percent petrol blend, after online critics claimed the higher ethanol content lowered fuel efficiency and risked damage to older vehicles. The case now moves to a full civil suit, with a detailed order from Justice Ahuja yet to be made available.
