Archive · 15 Sep 2026
Study Finds EU Women Politicians Face More Deepfake Porn
Researchers studied websites that show or help create fake sexual images of people.
They found 138 women politicians and nine men connected to these websites.
The researchers said women were much more likely to be targeted.
Some women had fake images hosted online, while others were listed on pages linking to tools that could make such images.
Senior women politicians, such as ministers and party leaders, appeared more often.
Dutch politician Suzanne Kröger called the findings deeply disturbing.
She said this problem affects many women, not only politicians.
Seizing websites may not erase links or records already stored by search engines.
The researchers also said that having laws against deepfakes does not guarantee quick enforcement or removal.
The European Union is scheduled to ban AI systems designed to create non-consensual sexual material from December 2.
Researchers identified 138 women politicians and nine men on sexually explicit deepfake websites across 22 EU countries.
Women politicians were 33 times more likely than men to appear in the study’s results, according to ADT.
Researchers found live explicit depictions of 38 women, while others appeared on gateway pages linking to image-generation tools.
Cabinet ministers and party leaders were more likely to appear than politicians in junior positions.
ADT said website seizures and existing deepfake laws may not fully prevent continued exposure or remove search-engine traces.
- Who
- Agora Digitale Transformation researchers examined EU national politicians; 138 women and nine men were identified in connection with deepfake pornography websites.
- What
- A study found that women politicians were targeted far more frequently than men on websites hosting or linking to non-consensual sexual deepfakes.
- When
- Researchers searched the websites from July 16 to 20, and the research was published in September 2026.
- Where
- The study covered politicians serving in national parliaments across all 27 European Union countries and found affected women across 22 countries.
- Why
- The research examined the scale of sexually explicit deepfake abuse and its potential role in online hate, intimidation, and reputational harm.
Researchers and victims
Limits of current responses
Impact of deepfake pornography
Researchers and victims
ADT and Suzanne Kröger described the material and related pages as part of online hate, intimidation, and reputational harm against women.
Limits of current responses
The article does not present a defense of the websites or the material; it reports that existing responses have not prevented exposure.
Website seizures
Researchers and victims
Seizing domains can remove material from the original websites and disrupt operators.
Limits of current responses
ADT found that search-engine records linking people’s names to seized domains could remain more than a month later, so takedowns may not erase all traces.
Deepfake laws
Researchers and victims
Specific laws could provide a basis for addressing non-consensual sexual deepfakes.
Limits of current responses
ADT said countries with such laws did not show lower exposure levels, arguing that prosecution, removal speed, and enforcement investment also matter.
- Research group
- Agora Digitale Transformation (ADT), a German digital democracy think tank
- Study population
- 5,872 politicians serving in national parliaments across all 27 EU countries
- Websites searched
- 160 domains known to host deepfake pornography and other non-consensual sexual material
- Sites with matches
- 36 websites returned matches
- Gender comparison
- 138 women politicians versus nine men were identified on the sites
- Relative exposure
- Women were 33 times more likely than men to appear in the study’s results
- EU measure
- From December 2, the EU will ban AI systems designed to generate non-consensual sexually explicit or intimate material