{
  "id": 7305656,
  "title": "Sexually Explicit Deepfake Sites Target 100-Plus Politicians in Europe",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/sexually-explicit-deepfake-sites-target-100-plus-politicians-in-europe",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-14T11:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Wired",
    "slug": "wired",
    "url": "https://www.wired.com/story/sexually-explicit-deepfake-sites-target-100-plus-politicians-in-europe/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A study of over 160 domains hosting deepfake abuse and nonconsensual sexual content has found that at least 138 women MPs from 22 European Union countries have been referenced on these sites. In comparison, only nine male MPs were mentioned. Researcher Benjamin Shultz, a fellow at Agora and lead researcher at the American Sunlight Project, calculated that it is 33 times more likely for women MPs to be targeted by deepfake ecosystems. Suzanne Kröger, a Dutch MP with the Progressive Netherlands group, expressed anger and concern over the findings, stating that the scale of abuse is deeply disturbing. The research, published by German digital democracy think tank Agora Digitale Transformation, focused on national MPs from all 27 EU countries. German, Dutch, Italian, and French politicians were the most targeted, with senior politicians being targeted more often. Shultz alerted the affected MPs and provided guidance on how to remove the content. The websites also featured depictions of celebrities, journalists, and other public figures. Shultz categorized various categories of abusive content, including instances where MPs appeared in actively hosted content, indexed results, and profiles with potentially new content. Multiple websites hosted pages with MPs' names, official photos, and personal information, along with links to \"nudifier\" apps that could generate deepfakes. The ease and accessibility of AI-generated deepfakes have led to their widespread use for harassment, intimidation, and blackmail, affecting millions of women and girls, including at schools worldwide. While legislation to combat deepfakes is slow to develop, some countries, such as the UK and EU, are considering bans on nudify services. Several of the domains mentioned in the research have been taken down, reducing the number of depictions of the European MPs.",
  "summary": "An analysis of 160 deepfake websites reveals politicians in 22 countries appear on them. Nearly all of them are women.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}