Deepfake video Spain election: People's party ad of Sánchez's wife draws outrage
Spain's conservative People's party (PP) posted a campaign deepfake video this week that appears to show Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's wife and other Socialist-linked figures admitting to wrongdoing, weeks before the general election on 29 November. By Friday it had nearly 2 million views.
Deepfake video Spain election: People's party ad of Sánchez's wife draws outrage
Spain's main opposition party, the conservative People's party (PP), launched a campaign video this week on its social media channels that used a deepfake of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's wife, weeks before the general election next month. The ad has sparked outrage across Spanish politics.
What the video shows
The video used artificial intelligence to manipulate the likenesses of several people linked to Pedro Sánchez's Socialist party, and appeared to show them admitting to acts such as soliciting prostitutes and taking kickbacks.
Among the fabricated figures:
- An AI-generated version of Begoña Gómez, Sánchez's wife, speaks about receiving a university post thanks to her husband's job. She has denied wrongdoing in the ongoing investigation the line references.
- A deepfake of former Socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero speaks about hiding jewellery in a safe, a nod to an ongoing investigation. Zapatero has also denied wrongdoing.
By Friday the video had racked up nearly 2 million views.
Government condemns the ad
Spain's digital transformation minister Óscar López said on TVE on Friday that the video was a lie and that its publication on the party's official accounts was intolerable.
It's telling people a colossal lie, and for a party to do it on its official accounts seems intolerable to me.
López warned that it is very easy for anyone not used to AI to mistake the video for reality, calling that extremely serious. The ad carried an AI disclaimer, but only in tiny, nearly transparent font at the bottom of the screen.
Leire Díez goes to court
Leire Díez, a former Socialist party member whose likeness was used in the ad, filed a legal challenge against the PP on Friday, calling on the party to immediately take down the campaign advert.
In her court complaint, Díez reportedly accused the PP of defamation and digital identity theft. The video had hinted that she worked to undermine judicial and law enforcement bodies to help the Socialists.
Legal experts and the PP respond
The question of whether the ad breaks the law has divided opinion, though most specialists consulted by El País landed on the same side. A majority of nine legal experts agreed the video was not illegal, given that it was labelled as AI-generated and its overall tone was one of political satire.
- Íñigo Navarro, former dean of the law faculty at Madrid's Comillas Pontifical University, said that given the context, everyone knows those people didn't say those things.
- Juan Antonio Lascuraín, criminal law professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, drew a distinction between legality and appropriateness, asking whether it is appropriate, exemplary or ethically and politically correct.
- José Javier Olivas, associate professor at Spain's National University for Distance Education who researches populism, conspiracy theories and AI biases, called the party's use of AI deepfakes in its campaign truly regrettable.
- Olivas argued the video crosses a red line in campaign conduct, since putting words in other people's mouths that they are not saying qualifies as disinformation. He noted that both mainstream parties have stoked emotions and attacked rivals' morality during the campaign.
The PP has defended the ad as satire. Borja Sémper, of the PP, told reporters there was no malicious intent because everyone can see the characters are not real, framing the video as a way of using digital tools to highlight the hypocrisy in which the Socialist party operates.
The deepfake ad lands in the final stretch of a tense campaign. Most polls suggest the PP will win the general election on 29 November, but will need to rely on the support of the far-right Vox party to form a government.
