Editing News-August-10-2026

{{DISPLAYTITLE:August 10, 2026 AI Law Digest}}
'''August 10, 2026''' — The Delhi High Court granted actor Tabu interim protection against unauthorized use of her identity through AI-generated content, deepfakes, and face morphing, and directed major online platforms to remove more than 150 identified URLs.<ref name="etv-tabu-order">[https://www.etvbharat.com/en/bharat/delhi-high-court-orders-protection-of-tabus-personality-rights-directs-removal-of-objectionable-deepfake-ai-content-enn26081002885 ETV Bharat, “Delhi High Court Orders Removal Of Objectionable Deepfake, AI Content To Protect Tabu’s Personality Rights,” August 10, 2026]</ref><ref name="abp-tabu-order">[https://news.abplive.com/entertainment/celebrities/tabu-personality-rights-delhi-hc-ai-deepfakes-google-meta-x-remove-urls-1861327 ABP Live, “Delhi HC Restrains Misuse Of Tabu’s Identity; Google, Meta, X Told To Remove 150+ URLs,” August 10, 2026]</ref> In the United States, House Democrats asked Speaker Mike Johnson to bring major AI-company executives before Congress to testify under oath about recent model-driven cyber incidents.<ref name="cnbc-ai-hearing">[https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/10/openai-anthropic-ai-hack-congress.html CNBC, “House Dems call for AI companies to testify on recent hacks: ‘Clear risk to safety,’” August 10, 2026]</ref><ref name="reuters-ai-hearing">[https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-house-democrats-press-anthropic-openai-about-rogue-ai-agents-2026-08-10/ Reuters, “US House Democrats press Anthropic, OpenAI about rogue AI agents,” August 10, 2026]</ref> California also launched what the governor’s office described as a first-in-the-nation AI cyber-defense program to help protect critical infrastructure and state assets.<ref name="govca-cyber">[https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/08/10/governor-newsom-announces-new-ai-cyber-defense-program-to-protect-californias-critical-infrastructure/ Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, “Governor Newsom announces new AI cyber defense program to protect California’s critical infrastructure,” August 10, 2026]</ref> The Ninth Circuit rejected interlocutory appeals by Meta and TikTok in consolidated youth-addiction litigation and denied Meta’s request to delay an August 12 trial brought by state attorneys general.<ref name="cna-social-addiction">[https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/us-court-rules-meta-other-tech-firms-must-face-thousands-lawsuits-over-social-media-addiction-6310301 Channel NewsAsia, “US court rules Meta, other tech firms must face thousands of lawsuits over social media addiction,” August 10, 2026]</ref> South Korean lawmakers advanced a bill to detailed subcommittee review that would criminalize creating, distributing, or possessing AI-generated sexually explicit material depicting fictional people.<ref name="korea-fictional-deepfake-bill">[https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20260811/korea-moves-to-criminalize-ai-generated-sexual-content-of-fictional-people The Korea Times, “Korea moves to criminalize AI-generated sexual content of fictional people,” August 11, 2026]</ref> Senator Bernie Sanders asked Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic to pause AI development and warned that the Senate could regulate if the companies continued deploying increasingly capable systems at their current pace.<ref name="guardian-sanders-pause">[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/10/bernie-sanders-ai-development-pause-letter The Guardian, “Bernie Sanders calls on Silicon Valley to ‘pause AI development’ in interest of humanity,” August 10, 2026]</ref> Anthropic also outlined a worldwide machine-readable marking plan for supported Claude models and outputs as part of its implementation of the EU AI Act's Article 50 transparency code.<ref name="claude-marking">[https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16266773-how-claude-marks-ai-generated-content Anthropic, “How Claude marks AI-generated content,” accessed August 11, 2026]</ref><ref name="register-claude-marking">[https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/08/11/anthropic-pledges-to-embed-watermarks-to-help-discern-ai-slop-in-sop-to-eu/5285792 The Register, “Anthropic pledges to embed watermarks to help discern AI slop in sop to EU,” August 11, 2026]</ref> South Australia also established a royal commission to examine AI’s effects on work, creative industries, education, public services, and other areas of society, with the inquiry expected to begin October 1 and report by July 1, 2027.<ref name="sbs-sa-commission">[https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australia-is-getting-its-first-major-inquiry-into-ai-its-starting-in-south-australia/xmpt3koiy SBS News, “Australia is getting its first major inquiry into AI. It’s starting in South Australia,” August 10, 2026]</ref><ref name="acs-sa-commission">[https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2026/south-australia-announces-ai-royal-commission.html Information Age, “South Australia announces AI royal commission,” August 11, 2026]</ref>

== Contents ==
# [[#Delhi High Court orders takedown of AI and deepfake content using Tabu’s identity|Delhi High Court orders takedown of AI and deepfake content using Tabu’s identity]]
# [[#House Democrats seek testimony from AI executives after cyber incidents|House Democrats seek testimony from AI executives after cyber incidents]]
# [[#California launches AI cyber-defense program for critical infrastructure|California launches AI cyber-defense program for critical infrastructure]]
# [[#Ninth Circuit lets youth-addiction suits proceed and denies Meta trial delay|Ninth Circuit lets youth-addiction suits proceed and denies Meta trial delay]]
# [[#Korea moves to criminalize AI-generated sexual content of fictional people|Korea moves to criminalize AI-generated sexual content of fictional people]]
# [[#Sanders asks major AI labs to pause development|Sanders asks major AI labs to pause development]]
# [[#Anthropic sets worldwide Claude watermarking plan|Anthropic sets worldwide Claude watermarking plan]]
# [[#South Australia establishes AI royal commission|South Australia establishes AI royal commission]]

== Delhi High Court orders takedown of AI and deepfake content using Tabu’s identity ==
The Delhi High Court issued an ex parte interim injunction protecting Tabu’s name, image, voice, likeness, and other personality attributes from unauthorized exploitation, including through artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and face-morphing technology.<ref name="abp-tabu-order" /><ref name="etv-tabu-order" />

The order directed Google, Meta, X, Reddit, eBay, and other services to remove or disable access to more than 150 identified URLs; the principal platform-specific takedown directions were to be completed within 36 hours.<ref name="abp-tabu-order" /><ref name="fpj-tabu-order">[https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/delhi-hc-protects-tabus-personality-rights-from-ai-deepfakes-unauthorised-use-orders-takedown-of-150-urls Free Press Journal, “Delhi HC Protects Tabu’s Personality Rights From AI Deepfakes, Unauthorised Use; Orders Takedown Of 150+ URLs,” August 10, 2026]</ref> The court also directed relevant platforms and service providers to disclose basic subscriber information and IP logs connected to specified accounts or content.<ref name="etv-tabu-order" /><ref name="abp-tabu-order" />

Justice Jyoti Singh registered the matter as a commercial suit, issued summons, and set December 7, 2026 as the return date for a discovery-related application; the interim injunction remains effective until the next hearing unless the court orders otherwise.<ref name="abp-tabu-order" />

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== House Democrats seek testimony from AI executives after cyber incidents ==
A group of House Democrats asked House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic, and other major AI companies before Congress to testify under oath about recent cyber incidents involving company-developed models.<ref name="cnbc-ai-hearing" /><ref name="reuters-ai-hearing" />

The August 10 letter, led by Representative Greg Casar of Texas, said Congress had not adequately responded to risks from AI development and also requested testimony from independent experts.<ref name="cnbc-ai-hearing" /> The lawmakers described the recent incidents as serious and warned that they could foreshadow larger problems if increasingly capable models advance without regulation.<ref name="cnbc-ai-hearing" />

The signatories cannot compel testimony without action from Republican House leadership, so the letter is a request for a congressional hearing rather than a subpoena or scheduled appearance.<ref name="cnbc-ai-hearing" /><ref name="reuters-ai-hearing" />

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== California launches AI cyber-defense program for critical infrastructure ==
Governor Gavin Newsom announced a first-in-the-nation AI cyber-defense program designed to help protect California’s critical infrastructure and state assets.<ref name="govca-cyber" />

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== Ninth Circuit lets youth-addiction suits proceed and denies Meta trial delay ==
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected interlocutory appeals by Meta and TikTok that sought to overturn rulings requiring the companies to face more than 3,000 consolidated federal lawsuits alleging that Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snap designed social-media products to addict young users.<ref name="cna-social-addiction" /><ref name="techcrunch-social-addiction">[https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/10/social-media-platforms-still-facing-thousands-of-user-addiction-lawsuits-after-failed-appeals/ TechCrunch, “Social media platforms still facing thousands of user addiction lawsuits after failed appeals,” August 10, 2026]</ref>

The court held that Section 230 supplies a defense to liability rather than immunity from being sued, making the companies’ appeals premature before final judgment.<ref name="cna-social-addiction" /> The Ninth Circuit also denied Meta’s request to postpone an August 12 trial brought by 29 state attorneys general over alleged collection and use of children’s data, addictive platform design, and consumer-safety representations.<ref name="cna-social-addiction" />

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== Korea moves to criminalize AI-generated sexual content of fictional people ==
A bill introduced by Representative Huh Young and nine other Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers advanced to detailed review by a subcommittee of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee.<ref name="korea-fictional-deepfake-bill" />

The proposal would amend South Korea’s sexual-crimes law to criminalize creating, distributing, or possessing AI-generated sexually explicit material depicting fictional people who could be mistaken for real individuals, with maximum penalties of seven years in prison or a 50 million won fine.<ref name="korea-fictional-deepfake-bill" />

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== Sanders asks major AI labs to pause development ==
Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to the chief executives of Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic asking them to pause AI development, saying recent model capabilities and cyber incidents showed that safety risks had reached a critical threshold.<ref name="guardian-sanders-pause" />

Sanders warned that the Senate would pursue regulation if the companies continued deploying increasingly capable systems at their current pace; the letter was a policy demand, not a binding order or introduced bill.<ref name="guardian-sanders-pause" />

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== Anthropic sets worldwide Claude watermarking plan ==
Anthropic said it signed the EU AI Act Article 50(2) Code of Practice on Transparency of AI-Generated Content and plans to add machine-readable marks to supported Claude-generated content.<ref name="claude-marking" /><ref name="register-claude-marking" />

Claude models launched in the European Union on or after August 2, 2026 will support marking from launch, while the company is working to extend support to earlier models during the statutory transition period; supported marks will apply wherever Claude is offered, including outside the EU.<ref name="claude-marking" />

Anthropic plans to embed imperceptible watermarks in generated text and use digitally signed C2PA provenance metadata for supported generated files.<ref name="claude-marking" /><ref name="register-claude-marking" /> The company cautioned that detecting a mark would not conclusively establish that Claude authored the content, and the absence of a mark would not prove that AI was uninvolved.<ref name="claude-marking" />

''See implementation tracker: [[News EU AI Act Implementation Milestones 2026|EU AI Act Implementation Milestones 2026]].''


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== South Australia establishes AI royal commission ==
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence to examine the technology’s effects on work, creative industries, education, public services, and other areas of society.<ref name="sbs-sa-commission" /><ref name="acs-sa-commission" />

The inquiry is expected to begin on October 1, 2026, after terms of reference are settled, and to deliver its final report by July 1, 2027.<ref name="sbs-sa-commission" /><ref name="acs-sa-commission" /> The state plans to appoint three royal commissioners.<ref name="sbs-sa-commission" /><ref name="acs-sa-commission" />

Malinauskas said the inquiry is intended to inform proactive government regulation while helping the state capture AI’s economic opportunities; he also warned that unchecked AI poses risks to society and the future of work.<ref name="sbs-sa-commission" /><ref name="acs-sa-commission" />
== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Deepfakes]]
[[Category:Data Privacy]]
[[Category:International]]
[[Category:Federal Regulation]]
[[Category:Congress]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Child Safety]]
[[Category:Cases Against Meta]]
[[Category:Cases Against Google]]
[[Category:South Korea]]
[[Category:Transparency]]
[[Category:EU AI Act]]
[[Category:European Union]]