Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is seeking damages over AI-generated deepfake pornography that superimposes her face onto the body of a naked woman.
Meloni is seeking €100,000 ($108,250) in damages in response to the discovery of deepfake porn videos depicting her on the internet, adding that the money would be donated to an interior ministry fund for women who have been victims of male violence, according to a report by the Italian news agency ANSA.
“I have requested compensation which will be donated to charity,” Meloni’s attorney said, according to a report by la Repubblica.
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, reacts at the party’s general election night event in Rome, Italy, on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. (Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
deepfake Mark Zuckerberg (The Washington Post / Getty)
The Italian prime minister is set to testify before a court on July 2 in Sassari, Italy.
A father, 73, and son, 40, from the Sardinian city have been accused of defamation and manipulating videos by replacing a porn actress’ face with the face of Meloni, and then publishing the content to a U.S. website.
Under Italian law, defamation cases can be criminal and carry a sentence.
The father and son allegedly created the deepfake pornography in 2020, before Meloni was prime minister, but a complaint was filed after her staff recently found the videos online.
The deepfake videos depicting Meloni reportedly remained on a U.S. porn website for several months, and were viewed millions of times from users from around the world.
Police said they were able to track down the two men with the nickname they used on the website, as well as the phone number from which the deepfake porn videos had been distributed. The 40-year-old man’s house was then raided by authorities.
The 73-year-old man has asked the judge to give him community service and close the case against him. The judge reportedly plans to make a decision on that request next week.
Meloni’s attorney, Maria Giulia Marongiu, said the donation to Solidarity Fund for victims of violence is meant to be “symbolic” and “send a message to women who are victims of this kind of abuse of power not to be afraid to press charges.”
The prosecution states that the videos were created using a graphics software.
As Breitbart News reported, there has been an explosion of AI sites and apps that allow users to put the faces of anyone onto images of naked bodies, creating very realistic fake pornography. This is known as a “Deepfake,” and it can be very difficult for people to tell that an image is not real.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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