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‘I felt disgusted’: MEP speaks out over nude deepfakes and urges EU action

An Austrian MEP has spoken out about her experience of being “stripped naked” online without her consent and has urged the EU to take action, as a report found that one in six female MEPs had been targeted by sexualised AI-generated content. Lena Schilling of the Green party said she had learned last month about nude deepfakes of herself circulating online. When she opened the links, she found herself staring at images from one of her first ever press conferences – but the images had been digitally altered to re…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourceJournalismTRV-2026-1782· cite & verify
‘I felt disgusted’: MEP speaks out over nude deepfakes and urges EU action

In brief

Austrian Green MEP Lena Schilling said she learned last month that altered images from one of her early press conferences had been manipulated by AI to remove her clothing and were circulating online. A report by the Berlin-based thinktank Agora Digitale Transformation found 50 MEPs, 46 of them women, had been targeted by sexualised deepfakes.

The case matters because the abuse is described as digital violence that could push women out of politics and weaken democratic participation. Whether a forthcoming EU ban on undressing apps will actually work depends on enforcement, which the signatories say is not yet assured.

Main points

  1. An ADT report found 50 MEPs, 46 of them women, had been targeted by sexualised deepfakes.
  2. An earlier ADT report found 138 female parliamentarians from 22 EU countries were affected.
  3. Women were 33 times more likely than male colleagues to be depicted in or associated with deepfake pornography.
  4. A letter signed by 119 MEPs asks the EU to pair the ban on AI undressing apps with enforcement mechanisms.

The problem

AI-generated nude deepfakes have targeted 50 MEPs, 46 of them women, which an ADT report calls a systemic threat to women in European politics and which can deter women from public life.

The rundown

Schilling was alerted to the images by ADT. When she opened the links, she saw doctored versions of images from one of her first press conferences, and she described feeling disgusted given how much she had prepared for that event.

She said other female MEPs who were targeted had spoken to her but feared coming forward. She argued there is nothing to be ashamed of and that the victims did nothing wrong.

The letter, initiated by Schilling and German Green MEP Terry Reintke, concerns a ban on apps and websites that use AI to undress women, scheduled to take effect across the EU on 2 December. It warns that a ban on paper protects no one until it is enforced, and Schilling wants national authorities to close loopholes.

Sources

  1. JournalismThe Guardian2026-10-18

The debate