00:00One in six, the number of female EU lawmakers now found to be victims of deepfake and AI-generated sexual
00:07violence.
00:08That's according to a major new investigation by Agora Digital Transformation.
00:12Over 100 MEPs have sent a letter to the European Commission demanding action.
00:17For more, we can head over now to Strasbourg, where the Austrian Green MEP, Lena Schilling, is standing by for
00:22us this morning.
00:23Good morning, Lena. Thank you so much for joining us this morning on Europe Today.
00:26You are one of the MEPs affected by this. Just tell us how that made you feel.
00:34Good morning. Thank you so much for the invitation and also about speaking about a topic that I think is
00:40not covered enough.
00:42We are seeing a situation where every sixth woman running for office on the European level is actually the one
00:49being attacked by AI deepfakes,
00:52which means people were just putting up naked pictures of me on the Internet that were fake.
00:58And how this feels, I think almost every woman can imagine that this is an immense shock to just recognize
01:05that.
01:06I was getting this email of Agora who did that study and suddenly I saw there are pictures on the
01:13Internet I never took
01:14and people are just doing that to take my dignity away, but not just mine, but from so many female
01:20politicians running.
01:21And I think this is just so unacceptable.
01:24And what does this kind of digital abuse do to women in politics like your very self?
01:32I think the main point is we often say to young women run for office, go into politics, stand up,
01:39lead, take a voice.
01:41But what we're not talking about is the consequence that this means.
01:44It means exposing to yourself to a level that is now unseen because seeing AI deepfake pictures is something that
01:52can be really a threat to democracy.
01:54Because just imagine you go into an election and such pictures pop up.
01:58Think of young women not in politics, but maybe activists standing up that want to go into politics
02:04and seeing how other political forces or whoever is doing that is then creating such pictures of them.
02:11That is in a way humiliating that is, I think, unseen.
02:15But you say the violence is old, but the method is new.
02:18What do you mean by that?
02:19And what is it like being a woman in a very male dominated environment?
02:25I think all of us are experiencing violence in the one form or the other over our life.
02:32We see all of the cases right now also getting big again.
02:36We saw Gilles Pellicot, but also a lot of others.
02:40And I think what this also means for our society is a structural problem, that violence against women is still
02:45a problem.
02:46And now in this situation, in a situation where the Internet, social media and digital competence is being bigger and
02:53bigger,
02:54this is a real, real threat because people can intrude your own personal space in a way without really getting
03:02close to you.
03:03And that is something that I really, we need to think about that.
03:07We need to stop that.
03:08On the 2nd of December, there should be the AI nudifier ban being in action.
03:12But for that, we need authorities and the member states that are actually having the resources and the power to
03:17also really take action then.
03:19And that's why I think this is also very timely because, yes, it's hitting every six women in the European
03:24Parliament.
03:25But look to the outside world.
03:27This can happen to your daughter, to your sister, to every woman in your life.
03:31And that's why we need to take immediate action now.
03:34And indeed, you've called on the European Commission.
03:36You've sent that letter.
03:37Have you got a reaction yet?
03:42Right now, we are still hoping for a stronger reaction yesterday.
03:46And that is really encouraging to see.
03:49Roberta Metzeler in the European Parliament was again emphasizing also that we need to really implement the things we are
03:55doing here in this Parliament,
03:56which means getting force that is actually able to deal with this kind of political and also emotional threats we
04:05are right now also experiencing.
04:07So I think that is a very tiny first step.
04:10But we keep on fighting.
04:12Okay.
04:13Elena Schilling, Austrian MEP there from the Green Party.
04:15Thank you so much for speaking to us this morning live here on Europe Today.
