Spain's opposition PP draws outrage with deepfake campaign video ahead of election
The ad used AI likenesses of people linked to Pedro Sánchez's Socialist party, including his wife, and one of them has filed a legal challenge, The Guardian reported.
Spain's main opposition party, the conservative People's party (PP), has drawn outrage with a campaign video that used artificial intelligence to fake the likenesses of people linked to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist party, according to The Guardian.
The Guardian reported that the video was launched this week on the PP's social media channels. It appeared to show the figures admitting to acts such as soliciting prostitutes and taking kickbacks. An AI-generated version of Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, speaks about receiving a university post thanks to her husband's job. A deepfake of the former Socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero speaks about hiding jewellery in a safe. According to The Guardian, both lines refer to ongoing investigations in which Gómez and Zapatero have denied any wrongdoing.
By Friday the video had nearly 2m views, the paper reported. A note at the bottom, in tiny, nearly transparent font, said it had been created with AI.
Óscar López, Spain's digital transformation minister, told the broadcaster TVE on Friday: "It's telling people a colossal lie, and for a party to do it on its official accounts seems intolerable to me." He added: "It's very easy for anyone who isn't used to AI to confuse that video with reality."
Also on Friday, Leire Díez, a former Socialist party member whose likeness was used, filed a legal challenge calling on the PP to take the advert down immediately. In a court complaint, she reportedly accused the party of defamation and digital identity theft, The Guardian said.
The dispute comes as the deeply polarised country prepares for a general election on 29 November. The Guardian said most polls suggest the PP will win but will need the support of the far-right Vox party to form a government.
Legal opinion appears divided on the video's legality. The Guardian, citing El País, reported that a majority of nine legal experts consulted by that newspaper agreed the video was not illegal, because it was labelled as AI-generated and its tone was political satire. Juan Antonio Lascuraín, a criminal law professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said legality was only one question, and that whether it was appropriate or ethical was "quite another matter".
José Javier Olivas, an associate professor at Spain's National University for Distance Education, called the video a "red line" and said it qualified as disinformation.
The PP has brushed off the criticism. Borja Sémper, of the party, told reporters:
“But everyone can see that this is a way of using digital tools to highlight the hypocrisy in which the Socialist party operates.”Borja Sémper, People's party
The Guardian's report does not say how the court will respond to Díez's complaint, or whether the PP plans to remove the video.
