Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday strongly condemned the circulation of doctored sexualised images of women online -including herself- and urged women to report such incidents immediately.
The Italian leader called the widespread exploitation of women’s images a “disgusting” and “dehumanising” violation of dignity.
“I am disgusted by what has happened”, Meloni said in an interview with Corriere della Sera, after it was revealed that hundreds of manipulated photos of high-profile women, including opposition leader Elly Schlein, had surfaced on a now-defunct pornographic website named Phica — a platform with over 700,000 users before it abruptly shut down this week.
What is Phica?
Phica had existed since 2005 and remained open despite numerous reports lodged over the years with the police, according to the Post online newspaper.
The newspaper said the site organised “cum tributes”, with men posting proof of masturbation over photographs of fellow users’ wives or girlfriends.
The images, from photographs at political rallies to holiday snaps stolen from personal social media accounts, had been altered to highlight or sexualise body parts on the site.
“I want to extend my solidarity and support to all the women who have been offended, insulted and violated,” Meloni said.
“It is disheartening to note that in 2025, there are still those who consider it normal and legitimate to trample on a woman’s dignity and target her with sexist and vulgar insults, hiding behind anonymity or a keyboard,” she said.
Meloni calls for ‘utmost firmness’
Meloni said those responsible must be identified and punished “with the utmost firmness” as quickly as possible.
“Content that is considered harmless can, in the wrong hands, become a terrible weapon. And we must all be aware of this”, she said.
“The best defence available to protect ourselves and those around us” is to “immediately report” such crimes, she told victims.
Last year, PM Meloni sued a father-son duo and sought compensation of 100,000 euros after some deepfake videos of her were uploaded online, a report by the BBC stated.
In the purported video, the accused allegedly swapped Meloni’s face with an adult film actor.
(with AFP inputs)
