Combatting AI deepfakes to safeguard Indian cricketers’ image rights

The maiden victory of the Indian women’s cricket team at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s World Cup 2025 was more than a breakthrough for the sport; it was a triumphant celebration of culture that echoed from the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, where the match was held.

As the team was crowned the new world champions, a parallel phenomenon began to unfold on social media: brands and corporate entities eager to ride the wave of national pride turned this victory into “moment marketing” by using generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools to create celebratory posts.

Moment marketing is a strategy whereby brands capitalize on real-time events and spontaneous fan energy to create culturally relevant content. Following India’s ICC World Cup victory, for example, several celebratory images went viral, including one of the team captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, seen in bed with the trophy next to her. While this was a moment of authentic marketing, the image was inauthentic – it was AI generated.

How deepfakes infringed Indian cricketers’ personality and publicity rights

According to a 2024 report by McAfee, there has been a surge in deepfakes in India, whereby bad actors impersonate consumers and public figures across spheres such as business, politics, entertainment and sport.

In today’s digitally connected world, many people are highly susceptible to such scams, and unknowingly repost deepfake content on social media without verifying its origin.

While the posts concerning the Indian women’s cricket team appeared patriotic, they inadvertently exposed a legal vulnerability: the commercial and personal fragility of the female athletes’ personas in the age of synthetically created images and videos.

When a brand or company uses genAI to produce high-fidelity images of a player, it is not merely engaging in creative expression; it is appropriating without consent that player’s personality rights and the exclusivity that they have contracted to sell to their legitimate sponsors.

Ambush marketing of cricket celebrations in the age of deepfakes

This practice represents a leap from traditional ambush, or moment marketing, which has become a strategy for brands and companies seeking to bypass the substantial licensing fees required for official sports sponsorships.

By hijacking a viral event, brands and companies create an immediate and powerful association with a team’s success without having to pay for individual endorsements.

The shift to AI-generated moment marketing is particularly acute for female athletes

Today, the moment is captured through a prompt and fed into a genAI model that allows for the instant creation of synthetic material that is indistinguishable from reality. This can capture the audience’s attention before officially licensed campaigns even reach the market. In short, the speed that can make moment marketing so effective is the same mechanism that deprives athletes of their rightful monetization.

The struggle to protect athletes’ personas in India is not new, but its fundamental nature has undergone a radical transformation as a result of the use of genAI.

In the past, the challenge for athletes such as PV Sindhu or Manu Bhaker was primarily rooted in the unauthorized use of their likeness on social media, where the harm is often not just a lost endorsement fee but a violation of their dignity and autonomy.

Protecting women cricketers’ name, image and likeness against deepfakes

Brands cannot use anyone’s name, imagery or likeness without their consent, Yashwanth Biyyala, Director of Talent and Partnerships at Baseline Ventures, a sports marketing, entertainment and brand-licensing company, told the Hindu Business Line in 2021.

“Some of these brands have disregarded potential brand association discussions in the past but suddenly now they are trying to get a piece of Sindhu’s glory through social media posts in the garb of congratulating her,” he added.

While this matter fizzled out from media attention, most likely due to a settlement between the parties, it was the first time that top female athletes had taken legal recourse to protect the use of their images without consent.

The use of genAI tools disrupts athletes’ rights to stay authentic and to embody what is real.

For an athlete whose professional standing is built on the authenticity and verifiability of their physical performance, the circulation of synthetic replicas is a threat to their integrity. When AI is used to create a digital version of cricketers, it distorts their right to control their own physical reality.

This shift is particularly acute for female athletes. While male athletes often face infringement of their intellectual property (IP) in the form of commercial counterfeiting, the harm directed at women frequently includes AI-driven beautification that alters their actual appearance, non-consensual sexualization, or the creation of deepfake content that places them in unprofessional or compromising scenarios.

Indian Court strikes down AI deepfakes to protect individuals’ dignity

The Indian courts are beginning to bridge this gap by linking IP to Article 21 of the Constitution of India on the right to live with dignity. A February 2026 order by the Delhi High Court in the case of Bollywood actress Kajol Vishal Devgan provides a vital precedent.

The court ruled that genAI deepfakes violate not just personality rights but also the fundamental right to live with dignity. This case involved everything from unauthorized merchandise to vulgar AI chatbots that impersonated the actress.

In the absence of a sui generis mode of protection for personality rights in India, it is important to remember that Indian courts have typically protected the personality rights of individuals.

Protection has emerged through a mix of legal resources, ranging from constitutional remedies to common law principles. Indian scholarly writings highlight the need for “extensive deliberations and consultations” for understanding the scope of protection and its limitations. And that is to say nothing of the patchwork of legal approaches to these issues that exists or is emerging around the world.

WPL's growth: the other side of the coin for women cricketers

The relevancy of these legal protections is underscored by the explosive economic growth of women’s cricket in India.

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) franchise rights were sold for a record sum of INR 4,669.99 crores (€42 million) in 2023, making it one of the most valuable cricket properties globally.

This included massive individual investments, such as the Adani Group’s acquisition of the Gujarat Giants for INR 1,289 crores (€115 million) and Reliance Industries’ purchase of the Mumbai Indians for INR 912.99 crores (€81 million).

However, a significant commercial chasm remains between these franchise valuations and the earnings of individual players.

At the WPL 2026 mega auction, for example, Smriti Mandhana remained a record-holder at INR 3.4 crores (€303,000), while many domestic players were acquired for as little as INR 10 lakhs (€9,000).

This economic disparity makes female athletes highly vulnerable – for many, their brand value is their most significant long-term asset. When brands use genAI to exploit their likenesses for free, they are stripping away the equity these athletes need for a sustainable career.

That the current incident has not led to legal action may signal that there is an understanding among personalities that traditional personality rights have low economic impact and that the sense of personal violation does not contain enough push for litigation.

However, the rapid growth of genAI tools may be changing that calculation. This incident is the first high-profile example of these tools being used in India extensively, freely, quickly and with ease to create the synthetic images.

These developments create an opportunity for further deliberations and discussion not only around the use of genAI and personality rights but also collective rights.

About the authors

Dr Tania Sebastian is an Assistant Professor of Law at the School of Law, Vellore Institute of Technology. She has 17 years of legal experience across academia, research and practice. She has been exploring the intersection of law and innovation through the lens of advancing public health benefits, especially for the Global South. Her current research traces the role of Indian women in innovative and creative spaces across historical and contemporary settings.

Saraswathy Vaidyanathan is an Assistant Professor of Law at BML Munjal University, India, exploring how intellectual property and artificial intelligence shape modern society. She teaches interdisciplinary courses on technology policy and writes for major international commentary outlets on deepfakes and digital rights. Holding advanced legal degrees from India and the UK, her research focuses on how disruptive innovations impact privacy, healthcare, and gender justice across the developing world.