The Delhi High Court has permanently restrained social media account operators from misusing a renowned cardiac surgeon’s identity in fabricated videos allegedly promoting medicines claiming to cure diabetes and high blood pressure. The court observed that such misuse could damage a doctor ’s reputation and put members of the public at risk if they acted on unverified medical claims, believing a trusted surgeon backed them.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav was hearing a suit filed by Dr Devi Shetty and a healthcare company founded by the surgeon against Facebook page operators, YouTube channel operators, Meta Platforms Inc, Google LLC and other parties. The court made absolute its earlier injunction and granted a permanent injunction against the operators responsible for the disputed content.

“The standing of plaintiff number 1 (Dr Shetty) in the field of cardiac surgery is borne out from the record, and he is clearly identifiable in the impugned content.…