Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has expressed her outrage and disgust over a pornography site that featured fake photos of herself and other prominent women, including her own sister, with sexist and offensive captions.
The porn website Phica displayed galleries of manipulated images before being inundated with ones featuring Meloni and other high-profile women.
Images of Meloni and her sister Arianna, who is also a well-known politician within the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, quickly gained popularity on the site and were viewed by numerous users.
Following the backlash, the entire platform was promptly shut down by its administrators, who attributed the closure to its hundreds of thousands of users violating its rules.
Meloni, known for her advocacy on family values and women’s issues, was appalled by the vile images and expressed feeling violated by the intrusion.
“I am disgusted by what happened, and I want to extend my solidarity and support to all the women who have been offended, insulted, and violated in their intimacy by the managers of this forum and its users,” Meloni told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Arianna added that the incident was a result of a “bad habit of a click-through society” where privacy is disregarded and women’s achievements are diminished.
While Italy has a revenge porn law in place, Meloni highlighted the importance of protecting data and privacy in today’s digital age. The current law, enacted in 2019, imposes penalties of up to six years in prison for the dissemination of sexually explicit images. It remains to be seen whether Meloni will push for updates to the law or introduce new legislation focused on privacy rights.
This is not the first time Meloni has faced explicit violations. In 2024, she filed a lawsuit against a father and son duo who allegedly created a sexually explicit deepfake video of her, which garnered millions of views in the United States. She is seeking damages of approximately $108,200, with plans to donate any proceeds to a fund supporting women who are victims of violence.
Deepfakes, generated by artificial intelligence to closely resemble real individuals, differ from doctored images, which contain some authentic elements but are predominantly altered to distort reality.
Prior to the Phica incident, an Italian Facebook page dedicated to men sharing intimate images of women, including family members, was shut down after numerous complaints to the authorities.
The violation of women’s privacy and dignity remains a pressing issue, and Meloni’s stance against such misconduct underscores the need for continued efforts to protect individuals in the digital sphere.
