Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has demonstrated how to counter Giorgia Meloni deepfakes and online provocations with irony and a masterclass in modern media literacy.
Giorgia Meloni deepfakes: An ironic response
Instead of issuing angry statements, the Prime Minister published an AI-generated photo on social media where her face had been superimposed onto the body of a woman in lingerie.
Meloni accompanied the post with a screenshot of a comment from a user named Roberto, who took the deepfake at face value. He expressed genuine indignation that the head of government would appear before citizens in such “shameful conditions.”
She also wrote: “Several fake photos of me, created with artificial intelligence and passed off as real by some fierce opponents, have been circulating online recently. I must admit that whoever created them, at least in this case, significantly improved me. But the fact remains: people today use anything to attack and invent lies. However, it is not just about me. Deepfakes are a dangerous tool because they can deceive, manipulate, and harm anyone. I can protect myself. Many others cannot. That is why one rule must always apply: check before you believe, and be sure before you share. Because today it happened to me; tomorrow it could happen to anyone.”
A legal precedent from the past
Meloni’s composure is partly due to her previous experience with digital harassment. NEWSROOM IN notes that five years ago, when she was the leader of the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, attackers used her face to create a hardcore video that was posted on a pornographic site.
The politician successfully sought justice through legal channels. The authors of that fake were a father and son from Sardinia, who were later identified and brought to trial in the city of Sassari.
