Deepfake Pornographic Images of Italian Political Figures Posted on Website
A pornographic website posted deepfake sexual images of Italian political figures and public figures, including Prime Minister Meloni and opposition leader Schlein, created by manipulating photos taken from social media and public appearances. Italian police opened an investigation after complaints from Democratic Party politicians.
What happened
A pornographic website called Phica published artificially manipulated nude and sexually suggestive images of dozens of named Italian women, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, opposition leader Elly Schlein, actress and director Paola Cortellesi, and influencer Chiara Ferragni. The images were taken from social media accounts or public sources such as campaign events and television interviews, then altered to enlarge or emphasize body parts or suggest sexual poses, and posted to the site's 'VIP section' accompanied by crude and sexist captions.
Phica has operated since 2005 with over 700,000 subscribers. The website remained unchallenged until Democratic Party (PD) politicians, including Valeria Campagna, filed formal complaints against the site.
Reported impact
The incident reignited discussion in Italy about persistent sexism and violence against women. Politician Valeria Campagna stated she could not remain silent seeing her images posted without consent, describing feelings of disgust, anger and disappointment. An online petition to close the website collected over 150,000 signatures.
Index analysis
The incident involved non-consensual sexualized imagery created through synthetic media technology applied to real photographs obtained from public and semi-public sources, then published on a pornographic platform. The manipulations appear designed to demean and sexualize the named women.
Governance controls
Meta closed a related Facebook group called 'Mia Moglie' (My Wife) one week before the Phica incident, where men shared private photographs of wives and unknown women. Italian police have opened an investigation into the Phica website following complaints filed by PD politicians.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.