Austrian MEP Lena Schilling has publicly disclosed that she was targeted by nude deepfakes and called for EU legislative action against the technology. Schilling, a member of the Green party, said she discovered last month that sexualised images purporting to show her had been circulated online. The deepfakes were created by digitally removing her clothing from photos taken at one of her early press conferences.
Schilling characterised the content as "digital violence against women" and a threat to democracy. She described her reaction upon viewing the altered images as one of disgust.
The disclosure comes as a broader investigation found that one in six female MEPs have been targeted by sexualised AI-generated content. The scale of the problem across the European Parliament suggests that such attacks are not isolated incidents but a pattern affecting female legislators.
The case underscores a growing gap between the capabilities of AI image-generation tools and existing EU legal protections. While the European Union has advanced data protection and digital rights frameworks, deepfake technology used to create non-consensual sexualised imagery appears to operate faster than regulatory mechanisms can address. Schilling's call for action indicates that Parliament members themselves view the issue as urgent enough to warrant dedicated EU-level intervention, distinct from broader AI regulation efforts like the AI Act already under consideration.
The incident highlights how such content disproportionately affects women in public positions, potentially compromising both their personal safety and their ability to participate in democratic processes without harassment.