Italian PM Giorgia Meloni seeks Rs 90 lakh in damages over deepfake porn videos

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is seeking €100,000 (roughly Rs. 90.6 lakh) in damages after a few deep-fake porn videos of hers were uploaded on an American adult website, reported BBC.

The videos had raked up millions of views on the website since it was uploaded, her team said in the indictment.

Two men — a 40-year-old man who is believed to be the producer and his 73-year-old father — are being investigated for the crime, said the report, adding that they were tracked down via the mobile device used to upload the clips.

They have been accused of defamation, which, in Italy, could carry a custodial sentence and a criminal conviction, reported BBC.

The 47-year-old politician, who is the first woman to occupy the Italian PM post, will appear before a court in the northwestern Italian city of Sassari on July 2 to testify, the report added. The videos were allegedly uploaded in 2020 before she became the Prime Minister.

Her legal team said that the demand for monetary compensation is “symbolic”and is meant to “send a message to women who are victims of this kind of abuse of power not to be afraid to press charges.” They added that if Meloni’s team wins the case, the money would be donated to a fund to support women who have been victims of male violence.

A deep-fake video is a digitally manipulated clip that replaces the image of one person with that of another in a convincing fashion. The use of such videos on both adult sites and other places have become common, especially following the rise of Artificial Intelligence and related technology.

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