Sexual deepfakes are being used to intimidate women in politics, journalism and activism, as artificial intelligence tools turn fabricated explicit images into a cheap and easy weapon of online abuse. European Union lawmakers have now agreed to ban AI services that can “undress” people without consent, after a rise in cases targeting women in public life.
While victims include anonymous women and girls, those with a public profile are particularly exposed to the danger of deepfakes. Campaigners and experts say the images are designed not only to humiliate them, but to push them out of public debate. The attacks against Slovenian activist Nika Kovac began when she was at the centre of a major abortion rights campaign. The 33-year-old runs My Voice, My Choice, a European citizens’ initiative pushing for EU support to access abortion. The campaign gained momentum, pushing the European Parliament and then the European Commission to take a position on the issue. That was when AI-generated sexual videos and photos showing Kovac naked begin appearing on social media, she tells RFI. “First I thought, what will happen if my mother or father see them, if my grandparents see them?” Kovac said. Some of her relatives initially thought one of the videos was real. For Kovac, the founder of Slovenian women's rights NGO the 8 March Institute, the message behind the attacks was clear. “I think it was a form of intimidation, meant to make me uncomfortable and stop me continuing to speak about women’s rights. This kind of content is another way of silencing women,” she says. As Africa rapidly goes digital, it becomes a prime target for hackers Emerging pattern The case reflects a wider trend linked to sexual deepfakes – fabricated explicit images or videos created using someone’s likeness without their consent. French journalist Salomé Saqué says she too was targeted by pornographic deepfakes, describing them as a weapon used by those trying to “gag, denigrate and humiliate” her – the latest on a “very long list of online violence” she has faced. Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has also warned about the growing threat deepfakes pose to journalists, especially women. It cited Argentine journalist Julia Mengolini, founder of radio station Futurock FM and a frequent target of Argentina’s far right. Mengolini has condemned a pornographic deepfake falsely portraying her in an incestuous relationship with her brother in order to discredit her. She also filed a complaint against Argentina's President Javier Milei after he shared a post mocking her attempts to stop the harassment campaign. Cases have also emerged in Italy, where scandal surrounding the pornography website Phica exposed the circulation of stolen, altered or sexualised images of famous women, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and opposition leader Elly Schlein. A fresh attack targeted Meloni earlier this month, with fake images showing her wearing underwear on a bed. In Germany, the case involving actress and television presenter Collien Fernandes reignited the debate over whether creating such content should itself be a criminal offence. Her lawyer described it as “the digital Pelicot affair” – referring to the case of Frenchwoman Gisèle Pelicot, who was repeatedly drugged and raped by her husband, and by men he invited via the internet to do the same. For years, fake sexual images of Fernandes were made to look like private material shared via social media accounts using her name. She later discovered the suspected perpetrator was her former husband.
