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From Taylor Swift to Bollywood, stars turn to the civil courts to fight deepfakes

The Conversation · · 716 words · By Graeme Austin
AI Ethics and Law Digital Privacy Human Rights and Dignity

The article discusses the legal challenges posed by AI-generated deepfakes and the various legislative and judicial responses globally. It highlights the use of criminal law, tort law, and trademark applications to protect individuals' images, likenesses, and human dignity.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/from-taylor-swift-to-bollywood-stars-turn-to-the-civ…

analyticsAnalysis

30%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 90%
Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyDetected Techniques

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
warning
Appeal to Fear 70% confidence
Building support by instilling anxiety or panic in the audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

13 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 4
verified Verified By Reference 4
schedule Pending 3
help Insufficient Evidence 2
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“Music superstar Taylor Swift has applied to trademark her voice and image”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results confirm that Taylor Swift filed trademark applications on April 24 to protect her voice (sound marks) and image (Eras Tour photograph) due to AI concerns.
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web search NEUTRAL — Taylor Swift has filed new trademark applications to protect her voice and image. The filings, made on April 24, are specifically designed to protect Taylor from threats posed by artificial intelligen…
https://www.gerbenlaw.com/blog/taylor-swift-moves-to-tradema…
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web search NEUTRAL — US pop star Taylor Swift has applied to trademark an image of herself as well as her voice, amid growing concerns of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The 36-year-old, known for the h…
https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/taylor-swift-applies-trademar…
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web search NEUTRAL — Taylor Swift filed three trademark applications with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, including two covering her voice and one photograph of her from the Eras Tour, on April 24.
https://www.eonline.com/news/1431359/taylor-swift-files-trad…
verified
“The notorious rollout of new picture-editing capabilities by X’s Grok chatbot in late 2025”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia explicitly states that from 2025 onwards, Grok allowed users to nonconsensually alter images of individuals into sexually suggestive contexts, confirming the rollout of these capabilities in 2025.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Grok is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI. It was launched in November 2023 by Elon Musk as an initiative based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name. Grok has…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok_(chatbot)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — From 2025 onwards, X (formerly Twitter)'s integrated chatbot, Grok, has allowed users to nonconsensually alter images of individuals, including minors, to show them in bikinis or transparent clothing,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok_sexual_deepfake_scandal
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — X.AI Corp., doing business as xAI, is an American company working in the area of artificial intelligence (AI), social media and technology that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace compa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XAI_(company)
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Australia now criminalises creating and sharing sexually explicit material online, including digitally created material.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including the Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Bill 2024 and a web search result, confirm Australia has moved to criminalize the creation and sharing of non-consensual intimate deepfakes.
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web search NEUTRAL — Deepfake technology has made the creation of child pornography faster and easier than it has ever been. Deepfakes can be used to produce new child pornography from already existing material or creatin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake_pornography
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web search NEUTRAL — Digitally created and altered sexually explicit material that is shared without consent is a damaging and deeply distressing form of abuse. This insidious behaviour is degrading, humiliating and dehum…
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Australia has moved to criminalise creation and malicious use of sexual deepfakes: its Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act and related reforms make producing, possessing or distribu…
https://factually.co/fact-checks/law/deepfake-sexual-imagery…
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“In the US, the 2025 Take it Down Act prohibits non-consensual publication of intimate depictions of individuals, including “digital forgeries”.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results and a Wikipedia entry confirm the passage of the TAKE IT DOWN Act on April 28, 2025, which prohibits the non-consensual publication of intimate depictions, specifically including 'digital forgeries'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — From October 1 to November 12, 2025, the federal government of the United States was shut down as Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year. The Republican-controlled…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_gov…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On April 12, 2025, Iran and the United States began a series of negotiations aimed at reaching a nuclear peace agreement, following a letter from US president Donald Trump to Iranian supreme leader Al…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–2026_Iran–United_States_n…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act, or TAKE IT DOWN Act, is a United States law aimed for dealing with non-consensual intimate…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAKE_IT_DOWN_Act
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“In New Zealand, proposed amendments to the Crimes Act and the Harmful Digital Communications Act will improve criminal law responses to sexual deepfakes.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant results about JavaScript, Stack Overflow, and general New Zealand politics. No evidence was found regarding amendments to the Crimes Act or Harmful Digital Communications Act specifically for sexual deepfakes.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Crime in New Zealand defined primarily by statute, rather than by common law. The main source is the Crimes Act 1961, which sets out a comprehensive code of criminal offences and their penalties. The …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_New_Zealand
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Sixth National Government is a coalition government comprising the National Party, ACT Party and New Zealand First that has governed New Zealand since November 2023. The government is headed by Ch…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_National_Government_of_N…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Cassandra Jane "Casey" Costello (born 1965 or 1966) is a New Zealand politician, lobbyist and former police officer. She was elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives, representing the New Z…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Costello
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“Some countries, including Canada, South Africa and India, recognise a common law tort of misappropriation of personality.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided contains general information about Canada, South Africa, and India, but does not mention the 'common law tort of misappropriation of personality'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Canada and South Africa established bilateral relations in the 1930s. Both countries are former British colonies and share similar cultures in terms of sports and language. Both countries are members …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada–South_Africa_relations
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (known as examination-in-chief in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, So…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-examination
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_South_Africans
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“About half of the states in the US recognise some version of this tort.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided consists of dictionary definitions of 'approximately' and unrelated Wikipedia entries for StubHub and the US Dollar. There is no evidence regarding the percentage of US states recognizing the tort of misappropriation of personality.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — StubHub is an American ticket resale broker and a primary ticket outlet. It is a subsidiary of StubHub Holdings, which also owns Viagogo. StubHub was founded in 2000 by Eric Baker and Jeff Fluhr in Sa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StubHub
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the S…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — WhatsApp Messenger, commonly known simply as WhatsApp, is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and Voice over IP (VoIP) service accessible via desktop and mobile app. Owned by Meta Platfo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anil Kapoor have used tort law to shut down websites and other online platforms where deepfakes have been posted”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results confirm that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anil Kapoor (among others) have approached the High Court to protect their personality rights against the misuse of their image and voice, specifically in the context of AI and deepfakes.
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web search NEUTRAL — From Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan to Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Kumar Sanu, a growing list of Indian celebrities are moving the High Court to safeguard their personality rights ...
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/from-aishwarya-rai-to-an…
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web search NEUTRAL — Facts of the Case Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, one of India's most celebrated actors and global icons, approached the Delhi High Court alleging that multiple defendants were misusing her personality attrib…
https://sunslegal.com/2025/09/17/delhi-high-court-upholds-ai…
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web search NEUTRAL — Indian film industry celebrities Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Karan Johar have gone to court to fight for their personality rights - control over their own image and voice ...
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/aishwarya-rai-bachc…
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“in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia, the law is much more piecemeal because the common law does not recognise a specific tort of misappropriation of personality.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found for this claim.
help
“A court battle is currently raging in the UK over whether a digitally-assisted resurrection of Peter Cushing in the 2016 Star Wars movie Rogue One is a form of “unjust enrichment”.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found for this claim.
schedule
“Cushing starred in a previous Star Wars episode but died in 1994.”
PENDING
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“Canadian judges have said similar things, linking protections for individuals’ personality to rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights.”
PENDING
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“A bill introduced to Congress in April would extend protections to US citizens’ “DNA sequences or traits” that could be used to replicate or misuse identity in commercial applications.”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.