Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, while sharing her photo on Instagram and Facebook, wrote, ‘For the last few days, many fake photos of me have been circulating, which some political opponents have created using AI and are calling them real.’ He further said, ‘Whoever made these pictures has made me look better,’ but also cautioned that the truth is that people will now do anything to attack and spread lies. Meloni’s obscene deepfake picture has sparked a new debate that when the person holding the post of Prime Minister is not spared from it, then what would be the use of common people’s pictures? Let’s understand the world of deepfakes…

In these days, my diverse photos are false, generated with artificial intelligence and spaced by some solar oppositor.

If you recognize what you have achieved, at least in the attached case, I have also improved a lot. The only thing that remains is to clean it… pic.twitter.com/or44qru2qj

— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) May 5, 2026

What is deepfake and how does it work?

The word ‘DeepFake’ is made up of two English words ‘Deep Learning’ and ‘Fake’. This is a technology based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can create fake pictures, videos or audio recordings that look very real. There are two big ways to create deepfakes:

1. Generative Adversarial Network (GAN): This is a process like competition between two neural networks. The first ‘generator’ creates a fake picture and the second ‘discriminator’ examines it and tells whether it is real or not. When the generator succeeds in tricking the discriminator every time, it ends up creating a fake image so accurate that it is difficult to distinguish from the real thing.
2. Deep AutoEncoder: In this, first the AI ​​is trained on hundreds of photographs of a person (like Melonie). Then he fits the facial expressions of another person onto that person’s face as if he were creating the expressions himself.

How big is the deepfake business?

The market of this technology is growing very fast. According to a report by Fortune Business Insights, the global deepfake technology market was worth $9.19 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow to $11.18 billion in 2026. It is likely to reach $51.42 billion by 2034, growing at an annual rate of 21%. There are some worrying aspects to this explosive market growth:

• Deepfake fraud attempts have increased by 2,137% in the last three years.
• In 2025, 1,567 unique incidents related to deepfakes were recorded and fraud worth about $1.3 billion was confirmed.
• 90% of online content could be AI-generated by the end of 2026.

How is it possible for your photos to be tampered with?

AI needs data to create deepfakes. The photos and videos you post on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X can become its fodder. In Meloni’s case, the accused had molested her and several other Italian women by taking their photos from social media. Therefore, any publicly available photo or video of you is always at risk of being misused by AI, whether you are a common citizen or the Prime Minister.

Then how to protect yourself from the threat of deepfakes?

Follow 5 steps to avoid deepfakes:

1. First check, then trust: Meloni herself has given this advice. Do not immediately accept any suspicious photo or video as true.
2. Use tools: Deepfake detection tools like Reality Defender, Sensity AI, and Deepware Scanner can identify AI-generated images.
3. Google’s ‘About This Image’ tool: This feature of Google can tell the original source and history of any photo.
4. Digital Watermarking: Countries like Italy and India have made it mandatory to put watermark on AI-made content so that common people can identify real and fake.
5. Secure personal information: Avoid uploading your private photos on social media. Keep your account private and do not accept friend requests from unknown people.

Have legal strictures been imposed on deepfakes?

Italy has made a provision for a prison sentence of up to five years for those who cause harm through deepfakes. At the same time, India has also made mandatory labeling of content made from AI by amending IT rules in February 2026 and has made a rule to remove illegal content in just 3 hours.

Meloni says, ‘Deepfake is dangerous because it can target, deceive and mislead anyone.’ She warned, ‘I can defend myself, but many people cannot do so. Today it is happening to me, tomorrow it can happen to anyone.