The facts
Spain's opposition People's Party (PP) has been criticized for circulating an AI-generated campaign video that uses manipulated likenesses of individuals associated with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist party. The video, which appeared to show figures like Sanchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, and former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero admitting to wrongdoing, has sparked outrage. Gómez and Zapatero have denied any wrongdoing in the investigations referenced. Spain's digital-transformation minister called the video a 'colossal lie.' Leire Díez, a former Socialist member whose likeness was used, filed a legal challenge alleging defamation and digital identity theft. The PP stated that the AI label and satirical context made malicious deception unlikely. A majority of nine legal experts consulted by El Pais concluded that the video was not illegal, given its AI labeling and satirical tone, though its appropriateness and ethical implications were questioned. The PP defended the video as a tool to highlight the Socialist party's hypocrisy.
Our take
Here’s the PP’s big idea: skip the whole tedious ‘having a platform’ thing and just deepfake your opponents into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit. What a galaxy-brained fucking strategy. You can’t find actual dirt on the Prime Minister’s wife, Begoña Gómez, or former president Zapatero? No problem! Just have a computer dream it up and slap a barely-legible ‘AI’ disclaimer in the corner. That’s not campaigning, you absolute frauds, that’s committing digital identity theft and calling it a press release. Their defense is the most pathetic shit ever squeezed into a statement: the AI label and ‘satirical context’ make malicious deception ‘unlikely.’ Oh, fuck right off. If I drew a dick on your face while you slept and wrote ‘SATIRE’ underneath, you wouldn’t call it political commentary, you’d call me a cunt. Which is exactly what they are. They think plastering a tiny ‘AI’ over a fabricated confession turns a lie into a think-piece. It turns it into a coward’s lie. The PP claims this garbage was a ‘tool to highlight the Socialist party’s hypocrisy.’ No, you useless pricks. You didn’t highlight hypocrisy; you demonstrated your own. You’re so devoid of real argument that your flagship policy is ‘Make Shit Up.’ The fact that nine legal experts mostly said this wasn’t illegal is the most depressing part of this whole shit-show. It just means the law hasn’t caught up to the fact that major political parties are now acting like basement-dwelling trolls with a budget. ‘Not illegal’ is the rallying cry of moral bankrupts. Your entire campaign pitch is, ‘We haven’t been convicted yet.’ Congratulations, you’ve lowered the bar to sub-basement level. You’re not satirists, you’re smear artists with a fucking algorithm. The only thing this video proves is that the PP’s integrity is as synthetic as the footage. A party that resorts to fake confessions is a party that has confessed, loudly, to having absolutely fuck-all to offer. You pathetic, innovation-free dickheads. Go build a future people actually want, not one you have to falsify frame-by-frame. Cunts.
