Renaissance party used AI to fabricate celebrity endorsements for Attal book
Renaissance, a French political party, posted AI-generated images on social media falsely depicting celebrities including Emma Watson and Cristiano Ronaldo endorsing a book by Gabriel Attal without their consent. The party removed the posts after public backlash and stated it was an error made by junior activists.
What happened
On 20 April 2026, Renaissance's official social media accounts posted AI-generated images showing celebrities including Emma Watson, Cristiano Ronaldo, and RosalÃa reading or endorsing Gabriel Attal's book 'En homme libre'.
The images included fabricated quotes and false endorsements created without the celebrities' knowledge or consent. Renaissance removed the posts after negative public reaction.
Reported impact
The publication drew criticism for using celebrities' likenesses without consent. The incident received significant media attention and ridicule on social networks.
Gabriel Attal, who was preparing a presidential candidacy, faced mockery online as a result of the failed promotional campaign.
Index analysis
Young activists submitted the parodic visuals to the party's communications team, which then shared them on official channels. The party's communications department stated the publication was 'very quickly removed' after the backlash.
Renaissance had previously stated in late March 2026 that it would not ignore AI despite its negative image, citing the importance of using the technology in social media campaigns.
Governance controls
Renaissance's communications team removed the content after negative public reaction but did not implement prior approval processes to prevent fabricated endorsements from being posted to official accounts.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.