While victims include anonymous women and girls, those with a public profile are particularly exposed to the danger of deepfakes. Campaigners and experts say the images are designed not only to humiliate them, but to push them out of public debate.
The attacks against Slovenian activist Nika Kovac began when she was at the centre of a major abortion rights campaign. The 33-year-old runs My Voice, My Choice, a European citizens’ initiative pushing for EU support to access abortion.
The campaign gained momentum, pushing the European Parliament and then the European Commission to take a position on the issue. That was when AI-generated sexual videos and photos showing Kovac naked begin appearing on social media, she tells RFI.
“First I thought, what will happen if my mother or father see them, if my grandparents see them?” Kovac said.
Some of her relatives initially thought one of the videos was real.
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