Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni initiated a defamation lawsuit against a father and son who created and uploaded non-consensual deepfake pornographic videos of her to a U.S.-based website in 2020. The videos were viewed millions of times, and Meloni is seeking €100,000 in damages, which she has pledged to donate to a fund for victims of domestic violence. The case has become a landmark effort in Italy to address the misuse of AI-generated synthetic media and to encourage other victims of digital abuse to pursue legal action.
In 2020, alleged deepfake pornographic videos falsely depicting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were uploaded to a U.S. website and viewed millions of times. At the time, she was leader of the Brothers of Italy but not yet PM. In 2024, now serving as PM, Meloni reportedly sued Alessio Scurosu, 40, and his father, Roberto Scurosu, 73, seeking €100,000 in damages. She testified in court, calling the act "a form of violence."
Risk classification
- Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
- Primary risk subdomain: 4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation
The perpetrators used AI to create humiliating and sexually explicit imagery of a specific victim to degrade and defame her, which aligns with targeted manipulation and harassment.
Additional risk subdomains
- 1.2 Exposure to toxic content: The non-consensual pornographic deepfakes were uploaded to a public website where they were viewed millions of times, exposing the public to toxic and non-consensual sexual content.
Causal factors
- Entity: Human
- Intent: Intentional
- Timing: Post-deployment
The incident was caused by the intentional actions of human perpetrators who chose to create and upload defamatory deepfake videos using deployed AI tools.
EU AI Act risk tier
- Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk
Risk Level 3: Limited Risk. The EU AI Act classifies AI-generated content such as deepfakes under limited risk, requiring transparency obligations to ensure users are informed of the AI's nature.
AI system and alleged parties
- AI system: unspecified
- AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Deepfake Image Generation
- Behaviour type: Tool
- Alleged developer: Unknown deepfake technology developers
- Alleged deployer: Roberto Scurosu, Alessio Scurosu
- Alleged harmed parties: Giorgia Meloni
Harm severity
Severity ratings are based on this scale.
Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.
- Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Financial: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
- Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
- Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Psychological: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
- Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
- Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
Financial
Reported: Yes, Meloni is seeking 100,000 euros ($108,212) in civil damages.
Directly caused: Meloni is seeking 100,000 euros in damages for defamation, which she plans to donate to a domestic violence fund.
Malicious content
Reported: Yes
Directly caused: The perpetrators created and uploaded deepfake pornographic videos of Meloni to a US-based adult website, where they were viewed millions of times.
Psychological
Reported: Yes
Directly caused: Meloni testified about the 'intolerable' feelings and distress caused by seeing her face superimposed on explicit material, describing it as a 'form of violence' against her.
Epistemic
Reported: Yes
Directly caused: The deepfake videos falsely depicted Meloni engaging in explicit sexual acts, misleading viewers who watched them millions of times.
People affected
- Occurrences reported: 1
- People reportedly harmed: 1
- People reportedly exposed: 1
Potential causes
Management
- Poor Platform Content Moderation: The adult website failed to moderate and remove non-consensual content.
- Flawed Search Engine Ranking: Search algorithms prioritized explicit deepfakes over news articles.
Technology
- Accessible Face-Swapping AI: User-friendly open-source software made deepfake creation easy.
- Realistic Deep Learning Models: Advanced AI algorithms generated highly convincing synthetic media.
Data Inputs
- Unconsented Facial Images: Publicly available photos of Meloni were harvested without her consent.
- Explicit Target Videos: Existing pornographic videos were used as templates for face swapping.
Human Factors
- Intent to Humiliate and Abuse: Perpetrators aimed to degrade and punish the victim through explicit media.
- Public Consumption Appetite: Millions of online views driven by user demand for explicit content.
Process and Methods
- Foreign Website Hosting: Uploading to a US-based site bypassed immediate European intervention.
- Lack of Proactive Filtering: Hosting platforms lacked automated checks to block non-consensual uploads.
Regulatory Environment
- Absence of Deepfake Laws: No specific laws criminalized non-consensual deepfakes in 2020.
- Cross-Border Legal Gaps: Jurisdictional issues hindered fast removal from foreign-hosted sites.
Information quality
- Classification confidence: High
- Reason for confidence: The reports provide consistent and clear details about the incident, including the identity of the victim, the perpetrators, the legal proceedings, the platform where the videos were uploaded, and the nature of the AI technology used. There is very little ambiguity regarding the core facts of the case.
- Ambiguities identified: The exact open-source software or model used to generate the deepfakes is not specified.
Two Italian citizens created and uploaded non-consensual pornographic deepfakes of politician Giorgia Meloni in 2020. While the incident represents a severe violation of personal privacy and targeted harassment of a political figure, its national security impact remains minor as it was carried out by private individuals without broader coordination or intent to disrupt state functions.
- Overall national security impact: Minor
- Scope: Single nation
- Primary target: Italy
- Alleged perpetrator: Two Italian citizens
Threat characteristics
- Imminence: Long-term. The original incident occurred in 2020 and is currently being resolved through standard legal and judicial processes.
- Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI system functioned strictly as a tool for image manipulation, requiring direct human execution and input.
- Novelty: Established threat. Non-consensual deepfakes and face-swapping technology represent an established threat vector that has been observed globally for several years.
Impact by dimension
- Physical security: Negligible. No physical systems, critical infrastructure, or human safety elements were targeted or affected by this incident.
- Information security: Minor. Involves synthetic media targeting a political figure, but it was executed by private individuals rather than a coordinated state-sponsored disinformation or intelligence operation.
- Sovereignty: Minor. The victim was an opposition politician at the time of the incident (later Prime Minister). While targeting political leadership, it did not compromise core government functions or electoral integrity.
- Economic security: Negligible. No strategic industries, financial systems, or technological competitive advantages were compromised or targeted.
- Societal stability: Minor. Represents a significant violation of individual privacy and human rights through non-consensual sexual content, but has limited impact on broader societal stability.
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