Germany says it wants to make pornographic deep fakes a criminal offence, after a TV star accused her former husband of spreading sexualised images of her online.
Collien Fernandes, 44, has filed a legal complaint in Spain against her former husband, 50-year-old actor Christian Ulmen.
The case, reported by Der Spiegel last week, has sparked a big debate in Germany about digital violence on the internet. More than 250 prominent German women have called on the government to protect people from "digital sexualised violence".
Ulmen's lawyer, Christian Schertz, said in a statement that Der Spiegel's reporting was "unlawful for several reasons" and that they were taking legal action.
Much of the reporting constituted "inadmissible reporting based on suspicion", the statement said. "Secondly, untrue facts are being disseminated on the basis of a one-sided account," it continued.
