Wired · European Union · Germany · Wired
Sexually Explicit Deepfake Sites Target 100-Plus Politicians in Europe
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
Almost 150 politicians across Europe have been included on harmful deepfake pornography websites over the last few years, according to new research seen by WIRED.
Key facts
- Analysis of around 160 domains that host deepfake abuse and other nonconsensual sexual content, by researcher Benjamin Shultz, has found that at least 138 women members of parliament (MPs) from 22
- These platforms are designed to run like businesses,” says Henry Ajder, an AI adviser and deepfake expert who has been tracking the ecosystem since 2018
- By Shultz’s calculations, it is 33 times more likely for women MPs to be targeted by deepfake ecosystems
- The research, which has been published by German digital democracy think tank Agora Digitale Transformation, focuses on national members of parliament from all 27 countries in the European Union
Summary
Analysis of around 160 domains that host deepfake abuse and other nonconsensual sexual content, by researcher Benjamin Shultz, has found that at least 138 women members of parliament (MPs) from 22 European Union countries have appeared or been mentioned on the sites. “Deepfake porn is part of a much bigger trend of online hate and intimidation against women and female politicians,” says Suzanne Kröger, a Dutch member of parliament with the Progressive Netherlands group, who was impacted. The research, which has been published by German digital democracy think tank Agora Digitale Transformation, focuses on national members of parliament from all 27 countries in the European Union.