Evaluating Parasocialism In Fandom Culture Against The Law: Protecting Actors From Stalking, Privacy Invasion, And Personality Rights Violations In The Digital Age
- IJLLR Journal
- Aug 30
- 1 min read
Samaadrita Ganguly, Symbiosis Law School, Pune
ABSTRACT
Over the years, the rapid expansion of the digital fandom has transformed engagement with actors into an overly personal and often intrusive relationship. Especially for Romance-driven shows and movies, which encourage the audience to emotionally connect and invest themselves in fictional relationships; however, this investment also blurs the distinction between characters and character performers. Using examples from shows like Canada’s Heated Rivalry, the Bridgerton series, which is set in Regency London high society, and the very famous Amazon Prime show The Summer I Turned Pretty, alongside Indian film and OTT fandoms, this essay examines the legal implications of stalking, doxxing, privacy invasion, personality rights violations and deepfake misuse. It argues that while Indian courts have recognised and acknowledged privacy and personality rights across jurisdictions through various judicial decisions, the absence of a comprehensive statutory framework leaves performers vulnerable to digitally amplified harassment. Thus this essay proposes an overall pivot away from piecemeal solutions and towards an inclusive and pre-emptive framework in terms of: a Digital Personality Protection Act; tailored adjudicative mechanisms, a framework for algorithm platform liability; regulations for synthetically produced media, and anticipatory digital security with particular respect to protecting rights to personality while considering freedoms of speech and of artistic creation, as well as the legitimacy of fan participation, etc.
