FdI against Pellegrini (M5S): publishes fake Meloni-Trump selfie; the judiciary must take action

A case within a case. The high tension between Italia and the US is also spilling over into domestic political debate. The controversy between the Five Star Movement (M5S) and Forza Italia (FdI) was sparked by a social media post by Five Star MP Marco Pellegrini, a member of Copasir. The post was accompanied by a selfie of Meloni and Trump, which the Prime Minister’s party was quick to clarify was a deepfake.

Commenting on the Meloni-Trump affair, the Movement’s representative wrote on social media: ‘Reality always surpasses fiction. Just when you think Giogggia has hit rock bottom, she picks up a spade, digs even deeper and proves you wrong’. The post, in which Pellegrini quotes, amongst other things, the US president’s remarks about the prime minister, is accompanied by a selfie of Meloni and Trump.

“It is clear that Pellegrini cannot sit on Copasir; he should at least resign from that,” said the leader of the Fratelli d’Italia group in the Chamber of Deputies, Galeazzo Bignami, who believes it is “extremely serious to use artificial intelligence to fabricate selfies of Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni in order to fuel despicable smear campaigns and disinformation”.

“With its usual penchant for falsehoods and lies, the Five Star Movement is using a ‘deepfake’ to discredit Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in which our head of government is depicted taking a selfie with President Trump,” explains Lucio Malan, leader of the FdI senators, who describes it as “a shameful attempt to deceive the public”.

Malan continues: ‘It seemed difficult to surpass the “knee pads” remark in terms of despicability, but they managed it in just a few days. They are always against the truth, always against Italia. Article 612-quater of the Criminal Code, introduced by the recent law on artificial intelligence, punishes with imprisonment of between one and five years anyone who causes unjust harm to a person by transferring, publishing or otherwise disseminating, without their consent, images altered using artificial intelligence that are likely to mislead. Proceedings are initiated ex officio in certain circumstances, including where – as would be the case here – the offence is committed against a public authority by reason of the functions they perform. This is undoubtedly a case of disinformation concerning an international dispute that is weakening the West to the benefit of competitors such as Russia and China, and forms part of that hybrid warfare which ranks among the gravest threats to national security. It is incredible and extremely serious that the perpetrator is a member of such a highly sensitive body as COPASIR. I hope that the judiciary will ascertain whether the Criminal Code has been breached and will not turn a blind eye.’