Wave of Sexualized Deepfakes Targets European Parliament Members

• At least 147 members of national parliaments across 22 EU countries have been targets of non-consensual, sexualized deepfakes.
• Victims are disproportionately female, with 138 women and 9 men identified in a study by the Berlin-based think tank Agora Digitale Transformation.
• 119 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have issued an open letter demanding stricter enforcement of regulations against such digital abuse.

Key Findings

• Researchers screened known deepfake websites against a database of 5,872 national parliamentarians from all 27 EU member states.
• The study tracked active sexualized content, traces of removed images, and the availability of "nudifier" applications designed to create non-consensual imagery.
• Victims, including Austrian MEP Lena Schilling, characterize these attacks as acts of violence aimed at humiliating women and controlling their bodies.

Policy and Regulatory Gaps

• The EU's AI Act, which includes a ban on "nudifier" apps, is scheduled to take effect on December 2, 2026.
• Signatories of the open letter, including Alexandra Geese and Tiemo Wölken, argue that paper bans are ineffective without properly resourced authorities to enforce them.
• Current national laws in various countries have failed to provide a noticeable deterrent effect against these attacks.

Recommendations

• Agora Digitale Transformation emphasizes that search engines must be held more accountable.
• Even when deepfake content is taken offline, search engines often continue to display links or cached results, causing ongoing psychological and reputational harm to victims.