People's Party Faces Legal Complaint Over Deepfake Ad of Sanchez's Wife

Nearly two million people viewed a political advertisement released this week by Spain's People's Party, a conservative group preparing for the general election scheduled for November 29. The clip utilizes artificial intelligence to create synthetic audio and video of figures associated with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist Party.

In the video, an AI-generated version of Begoña Gómez, Sánchez's wife, describes obtaining a university position due to her husband's status. A separate segment features a deepfake of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero discussing the concealment of jewelry in a safe. Both segments reference ongoing investigations into their respective subjects, though both Gómez and Zapatero have denied any wrongdoing.

Leire Díez, a former member of the Socialist Party whose image appears in the advert, filed a court complaint against the People's Party on Friday. She requested the immediate removal of the video and alleged the party committed defamation and digital identity theft. The complaint asserts that the video used her likeness to suggest she worked to undermine the judiciary and law enforcement for the benefit of the Socialists.

Digital Transformation Minister Óscar López criticized the campaign on Friday during an interview with TVE. He described the video as a "colossal lie" and argued that a party broadcasting it on official accounts acted in an intolerable manner. López pointed out that the AI label was displayed in tiny, nearly transparent text at the bottom of the screen, a detail he warned could be overlooked by viewers unfamiliar with digital tools.

Legal experts generally support the People's Party's position. Eight of nine specialists consulted by the newspaper El País concluded the video is not illegal because it was labeled as AI-generated and maintained a satirical tone. Íñigo Navarro, a former dean at Madrid's Comillas Pontifical University, stated that the context makes it clear the individuals did not utter the lines. Juan Antonio Lascuraín, a criminal law professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, noted that legality is distinct from questions of political ethics or appropriateness.

José Javier Olivas, an associate professor at Spain's National University for Distance Education, expressed a different view. He described the use of deepfakes by a party claiming to revitalize democracy as regrettable. Olivas argued that the video crossed a red line by placing words in the mouths of others, a tactic he classified as disinformation.

The controversy mirrors trends in the United States ahead of its midterm elections. A recent report from the Wesleyan Media Project identified more than 200 AI-generated ads, most linked to Republican candidates. Erika Franklin Fowler, the project's co-director, noted that spending on such ads in the 2024 cycle was under $50,000, and that many current examples lack disclaimers.

Borja Sémper, a figure in the People's Party, dismissed the criticism on Friday. He stated that a problem exists only if there was malicious intent to deceive viewers into believing the characters were real. Sémper argued the video simply uses digital tools to expose Socialist hypocrisy. Current polling indicates the People's Party is likely to win the election but will require support from the far-right Vox party to form a government.