Italy’s Meloni seeks compensation over deepfake porn

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been asked to testify in court in the trial of two men who are accused of making deepfake pornographic images using her face and posting them online.

Meloni, who is listed as an injured party in the July 2 trial in Sassari in Sardinia, is seeking 100,000 euros ($A166,000) in symbolic damages and will donate any award to an interior ministry fund for women victims of domestic violence.

Her lawyer Maria Giulia Marongiu said: “The crime in question is particularly odious as it allegedly involves the uploading of fabricated pornographic images that could affect any unsuspecting woman with damaging consequences for her reputation and private life.

“Given the role played by Giorgia Meloni, it seemed all the more fitting that she should be a civil plaintiff, in the hope that this would be useful in raising awareness of the issue also on behalf of the many women who often remain defenceless.”

According to the ANSA news agency, Italy’s postal police in 2020 identified the father and son who allegedly uploaded the deepfake images to a US-based porn site by tracing the data to one of their mobile phones.

At the time Meloni was not prime minister but head of her Brothers of Italy party.