Giorgia Meloni warns of 'dangerous' deepfakes as AI lingerie images of her circulate
Italy's PM rebuked suggestive AI images that came soon after the UN highlighted the wider issue of deepfakes targeting women in public life
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a rare public statement about a series of circulating deepfakes depicting her on Tuesday evening, May 5.
The AI-generated images were suggestive in nature. One of them, shared by the PM as she rebuked the trend, showed Meloni wearing lingerie and sitting on a bed.
On her official social media profiles, Meloni posted: “In these days, several fake photos of me are circulating, generated with artificial intelligence and passed off as real by some zealous opponent.
“I must admit that whoever created them, at least in the attached case, has also improved me quite a bit,” she joked. “But the fact remains that, just to attack and invent falsehoods, nowadays anything at all is used.”
Meloni went on to warn of the dangers of deepfakes in her message. “The point, however, goes beyond me. Deepfakes are a dangerous tool, because they can deceive, manipulate, and strike anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot.
“For this reason, one rule should always apply: verify before believing, and believe before sharing. Because today it happens to me, tomorrow it can happen to anyone.”
Meloni blurred out the name and profile picture of the ‘opponent’ accused of misinforming his audience about the veracity of the images. Based on tips from other social media users and an analysis of the blurred profile picture, Eurovision News Spotlight was able to identify the profile as that of a Naples-based Facebook user with 2,300 followers who frequently posts political and lifestyle content including AI-generated material.
The deepfakes of Meloni appeared to have since been deleted from that page.
Women at higher risk from sexual deepfakes
Giorgia Meloni is not the first European leader to be impersonated by AI-generated deepfakes, but the sexual nature of the images highlights an issue that predominantly affects female leaders, reflecting the situation for women in the public eye more broadly. While AI-generated political content is ubiquitous across the world, sexually suggestive images are rarely made depicting male leaders.
Eurovision News Spotlight has previously reported on an image of Pam Bondi that circulated soon after Donald Trump’s election in 2024, purportedly showing her running in underwear. At the time, she was Trump’s pick for Attorney General — a post she held until April 2026.
Photo purporting to show scantily-clad potential U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi running is altered
The issue more widely affects prominent women in other public fields. A report published last week by UN Women found that women in public life are facing growing forms of online violence, due to the rise of artificial intelligence.
The report focused on female journalists, human rights defenders, activists, writers and other public communicators, and showed that AI-enabled violence — including deepfakes, manipulated sexual imagery/videos and other forms of image-based abuse — was intensifying existing patterns of harassment. Respondents to a survey carried out in 2025 across 119 countries reported that they faced victim-blaming and limited redress options, all of which ultimately affect women’s participation in public life.
Governments grapple with regulating AI use
Kalliopi Mingerou, UN Women’s Chief of the Ending Violence against Women Section, said: “AI is making abuse easier and more damaging, and this is fuelling the erosion of hard-won rights in a context marked by democratic backsliding and networked misogyny. Our responsibility is to ensure that systems, laws, and platforms respond with the urgency this crisis demands.”
Governments have been grappling with how to legislate AI as it grows exponentially in their countries’ social media ecosystems. In 2025, Italy became the first EU country to approve a law regulating the use of artificial intelligence. The legislation includes prison terms of between one and five years for the illegal distribution of AI-generated or manipulated content if it causes harm. Harsher penalties were introduced for those who use AI to commit crimes, like fraud and identity theft.
It came after the EU’s landmark 2024 AI Act, the world’s first legal framework for artificial intelligence. However, discussions on amendments to the laws, which will also govern industrial use of the technology, were subject to delays, even as the new rules were due to kick in from August 2026.
SOURCES
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