Observing that uncontrolled manipulation through Artificial Intelligence (AI) may adversely affect the health of democracy and contribute to the manufacturing of public consent, Kuldeep Singh, Civil Judge (Junior Division), Chandigarh, has directed Facebook to disable public access to or suspend the pages — Batale Di Rajneeti, Kachi Laan and Thanedar Uncle — immediately till the next date of hearing on October 22 for allegedly defaming Congress leader Amandeep Jaintipur of Batala.The court said that prima facie these pages appear to have a political agenda beyond healthy public criticism, portraying Jaintipur negatively while carrying politically calculated material favouring the ruling party.Advocate Harinder Deep Singh Bains, counsel for the applicant, argued that Amandeep Jaintipur is a front-runner for the Assembly election from the Batala constituency of Punjab, to be held in 2027, under the Congress.Recently, the plaintiff came across highly objectionable videos and reels in which his recognisable face and appearance had been digitally manipulated through AI and shared on Facebook pages. The artificial content is calculated to ridicule and humiliate the plaintiff and malign his position.The scripted AI-generated content brands the applicant as a drug dealer and anti-social element and, in some videos, shows him as a dancer making woman-like gestures, which is against the truth and strikes at the very fundamental right of the plaintiff to a dignified public life. It was argued that this is not a case of healthy and fair criticism, but rather cheap politics which uses technology in an unchecked and irresponsible manner.After hearing the arguments, the court said that these AI-generated scripted videos paint Amandeep Jaintipur in a negative light. The pages appear to have a political agenda which goes beyond healthy public criticism and apparently maligns the image of an individual without verified facts, knowingly. This is quite a serious act done in a very uncontrolled and casual manner, which may adversely affect the health of our democracy and is a process of manufacturing public consent, and the ruling party is responsible for controlling such acts. But, apparently to the contrary, the AI-generated scripted videos contain politically calculated material in favour of the ruling party in Punjab itself, against the plaintiff who is stated to be from the opposition political party. Thus, there is a prima facie case, and irreparable loss and balance of convenience are in favour of the plaintiff.In view of this, an interim injunction is granted against the defendants directing them to refrain from further disseminating, publishing or uploading AI-generated content involving the plaintiff. Further, an ad-interim ex parte injunction is granted to the effect that defendant No. 4 (Facebook) is directed to disable public access to or suspend the pages namely ‘Thanedar Uncle’, ‘Kachi Laan’ and ‘Batale Di Rajneeti’, linked with the URLs provided, immediately till the next date of hearing. Notice of the suit as well as the stay application be given to the defendants through ordinary process for October 22 on filing of copies of documents.