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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has filed a defamation lawsuit over a deepfake pornographic video featuring her.
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She is suing two men, a 40-year-old and his 73-year-old father, seeking €100,000 (£85,000) in damages.
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The deepfake video surfaced in 2020, two years before she became prime minister, and was viewed by millions on a U.S. adult site.
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Italian police are currently investigating the case after Meloni’s lawyers lodged a complaint.
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Meloni is scheduled to testify in court on July 2 before Judge Monia Adami in Sassari.
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She pledged to donate any compensation received to the Solidarity Fund for Victims of Violence, which aids abused women.
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The case highlights growing concerns about deepfake technology and its misuse in targeting public figures.
Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, has sued two individuals for defamation, claiming they created and distributed a deepfake pornographic that included her for €100,000 (£85,000).
An Italian police force is presently looking into the case of a 40-year-old man and his 73-year-old father, following a complaint that Meloni’s attorneys filed. Millions of people apparently saw the video after it appeared on an adult website in the US.
The phrase “deepfake” describes computer-generated imagery that superimposes the face of one person onto the body of another, producing an artificial portrayal.
The event happened in 2020, which was two years before Meloni became prime minister. Meloni will testify in front of Judge Monia Adami at a scheduled July 2 court session in Sassari. She wants to sue the accused for €100,000 in damages during the legal process.
Meloni has declared that she will give the Solidarity Fund for Victims of Violence, a group that supports women who have been abused by males, any money that she is granted.
