Spain's PP party AI deepfake video insults Dominican Republic
Spain's Partido Popular published an AI-generated deepfake video comparing government corruption allegations to a reality TV show, featuring deepfake imagery of Spanish officials set in the Dominican Republic. The video prompted a diplomatic protest from the Dominican government and a public apology from President Pedro Sánchez; the PP subsequently deleted the video.
What happened
The Spanish Partido Popular (PP) published a video on social media created with artificial intelligence that compared corruption allegations against the Spanish government (the 'Koldo case') with the reality TV show 'La Isla de las Tentaciones' (The Island of Temptations). The deepfake video featured government figures including President Pedro Sánchez and Begoña Gómez appearing as contestants in swimwear, with text overlays including words such as 'corruption', 'lust', 'ambition' and 'lies'.
The video was set in the Dominican Republic and concluded by welcoming viewers to 'La Isla de las Corrupciones' (The Island of Corruptions). The Dominican government responded with a formal statement expressing its 'most forceful rejection' of the video, calling it an 'incomprehensible attack' and stating it was 'unacceptable' to instrumentalize the country's image and symbols for Spanish domestic political matters.
Reported impact
The video provoked a diplomatic incident with the Dominican Republic. The PP was forced to rectify and delete the deepfake video following the Dominican government's objections.
Index analysis
The deepfake technology was used to create realistic likenesses of Spanish government officials in a satirical video intended as political commentary. The placement of the video in the Dominican Republic context created unintended diplomatic harm by appearing to associate the country with corruption.
Governance controls
President Sánchez issued a public apology to the Dominican Republic, stating he was 'deeply ashamed' and expressing that the video gave him 'a lot of shame'. He called for those responsible for creating the video to provide an explanation.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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