India, Aug. 6 -- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed Meta Platforms, X Corp, Google LLC and other social media platforms to take down allegedly defamatory posts and AI-generated deepfake videos linking Union minister Nitin Gadkari and his family members to India's ethanol-blended petrol (EBP) programme.

Noting that the content against Gadkari is "vile and abusive", a single-judge bench of justice Arif Doctor said, "Such material should have no place on a public platform, which is accessible to everyone, including [the] young."

The court also suggested that Google and Meta develop a framework to take down such abusive content on social media platforms without having to approach the court each time. It asked Gadkari to approach th...