Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni lashed out at social media users spreading fake AI-generated images of her, sharing one fabricated image herself to illustrate what she called the degrading nature of the content.
The image, which had circulated widely online in recent days, falsely depicted Meloni sitting on a bed in an immodest pose wearing only underwear. Some users who believed the image was authentic used it to criticize the prime minister.
“In recent days, several fake images of me created using artificial intelligence have been circulated and presented as real by some overly zealous opponents,” Meloni wrote in a post accompanying the image.
“I must admit that whoever created them, at least in the attached case, even improved me quite a bit,” she added. “But the fact remains: to attack and invent lies, people now truly use everything.”
Meloni shared the image as it appeared in a post by a user named Roberto, who appeared to believe it was genuine. His caption read: “That a prime minister presents herself in such a situation is truly shameful. It is not worthy of the institutional role she holds. She has no shame.”
In her response, Meloni accused those sharing the image of engaging in cyberbullying and warned that AI-generated “deepfake” images are becoming an increasingly dangerous tool capable of misleading and harming people.
“This goes beyond my personal case,” she wrote. “Deepfakes are dangerous because they can deceive, manipulate and harm anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot. Therefore one rule should always apply: verify before believing, and think before sharing. Today it is happening to me, tomorrow it could happen to anyone.”
Commenters urged Meloni to file complaints with law enforcement authorities, though it remains unclear whether she intends to do so.
Fake sexualized images and fabricated videos involving Meloni have circulated before. Last year, a pornography website published manipulated images and videos of prominent Italian women, including Meloni and opposition leader Elly Schlein.
Those images and videos were crudely edited and accompanied by sexual captions before being shared on a platform with more than 700,000 subscribers.
In response, Meloni’s right-wing government passed legislation making it a criminal offense to create deepfake material that causes “unjustified harm” to the person depicted.