138 Female Politicians in Europe Targeted by Deepfake Porn Sites

Nearly 150 European politicians have been featured on deepfake pornography websites in recent years, with women targeted at 33 times the rate of men, according to new research that exposes the scale of AI-generated sexual abuse in democratic institutions.

Researcher Benjamin Shultz analyzed approximately 160 domains hosting deepfake abuse and nonconsensual sexual content, identifying at least 138 women members of parliament from 22 European Union countries. Only nine male MPs appeared on the sites, according to the findings first reported by WIRED.

How the targeting works

The abuse extends beyond explicit videos. Many sites host database-style pages featuring MPs' names, official photographs, social media profiles, and personal information. Some include sections rating women's bodies. These pages often link directly to "nudifier" apps or content creation tools, enabling visitors to generate new abusive material in just a few clicks.

"It has all the images, all the information, and a direct link to the tool, and in three clicks you can generate," Shultz told WIRED. "That's just as bad as actually hosting the content."

Politicians from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and France appeared most frequently. Senior politicians faced higher targeting rates than junior officials.

Why it matters

This research quantifies a threat that undermines democratic participation. The targeting creates what lawmakers and researchers describe as a chilling effect—discouraging women and girls from entering public life. "This discourages women from taking office in the first place and also crowds these women out of public life," Shultz said. Beyond psychological harm, the abuse carries reputational consequences that can follow politicians into post-political careers.

The infrastructure supporting this abuse operates at commercial scale. "These platforms are designed to run like businesses," said Henry Ajder, an AI adviser and deepfake expert tracking the ecosystem since 2018. "The whole infrastructure is set up to do this at scale with ease."

Legislative response begins

Shultz, a fellow at German think tank Agora Digitale Transformation and lead researcher at the American Sunlight Project, compiled details of more than 5,800 MPs across the EU in July. He alerted all affected politicians individually and provided content removal guidance.

Some regulatory action has emerged recently. Both the UK and EU are planning bans on nudification services. Under the US Take It Down Act, at least two major deepfake websites have been removed. At least half a dozen domains from the research have been taken offline since the study was conducted.

Dutch MP Suzanne Kröger, who was impacted, expressed anger at the findings. "We are politicians, we have a platform and speak out," she said. "But meanwhile, there are millions of women victims of these criminal acts."

The research focused on national parliaments and did not include members of the European Parliament. Shultz is conducting similar analyses of UK and US politicians.

The findings were published by Agora Digitale Transformation and first reported by WIRED.