Spain's People's Party Faces Backlash Over Deepfake Ad Depicting PM's Wife

Nearly two million views accumulated on a political advertisement released by Spain's People's Party this week, a figure that underscored the viral reach of the campaign's latest digital tool. The video, posted on the party's social media channels, employs artificial intelligence to alter the likenesses of figures associated with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist group. The content features these individuals appearing to confess to specific actions, including soliciting prostitutes and accepting financial kickbacks.

One segment displays an AI-generated version of Begoña Gómez, the prime minister's wife, discussing how she secured a university position due to her husband's office. Another clip shows a deepfake of former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero claiming he hid jewelry in a safe. Both references align with active investigations into the Socialists. Gómez and Zapatero have both denied any wrongdoing related to the matters depicted in the ad.

The Socialists moved to counter the narrative quickly. Óscar López, the minister for digital transformation, criticized the ad on TVE, describing it as a colossal lie delivered through the official accounts of a political party. He pointed out that the label identifying the video as AI-generated appeared in tiny, nearly transparent text at the bottom of the screen. López warned that viewers unfamiliar with digital manipulation tools might easily accept the footage as reality.

Leire Díez, a former member of the Socialist party whose likeness was used in the video, filed a court complaint against the People's Party on Friday. She requested the immediate removal of the advertisement. Her legal action accused the party of defamation and digital identity theft. The complaint argued that the video used her image to suggest she worked to undermine the judiciary and law enforcement to benefit her former party.

Legal experts consulted by El País largely sided with the conservative party. Nine specialists reviewed the material, and most concluded the video was not illegal. Their reasoning rested on the fact that the clip was labeled as AI-generated and maintained a satirical tone. Íñigo Navarro, a former dean at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid, noted that the context made it clear the subjects did not actually speak those lines. Juan Antonio Lascuraín, a criminal law professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, distinguished legality from ethical appropriateness.

José Javier Olivas, an associate professor at Spain's National University for Distance Education, expressed concern over the use of deepfakes by a party claiming to want to revitalise democracy. He described the video as crossing a red line by putting words in other people's mouths. Olivas categorized this tactic as disinformation, noting that both mainstream parties have increasingly attacked their rivals' morality.

The People's Party dismissed the criticism. Borja Sémper, a party figure, stated that a problem would exist only if there were malicious intent to make viewers believe the characters were real. He argued that the digital tools were used to highlight Socialist hypocrisy. Most current polls indicate the People's Party will win the election scheduled for 29 November, though they will likely require support from the far-right Vox party to form a government.