Italy Criminalizes AI Deepfakes and Sextortion: What Residents Need to Know

Italy's parliament has approved a landmark commission report proposing comprehensive new legislation to criminalize AI-generated sexual content and sextortion—but these are proposals awaiting parliamentary action, not yet law. The move comes as prosecutors and police struggle to contain an epidemic of deepfake pornography, sextortion, and online harassment that increasingly targets women in public life—and ordinary citizens alike. The commission's 20 operational recommendations are expected to be drafted into legislation by late 2026 or early 2027.

What Already Protects Residents

Before exploring the proposed changes, it's important to understand existing protections. Italy already has Article 612-quater, effective since October 2025, which penalizes the diffusion of artificially manipulated images causing unjust harm. The 2019 "Codice Rosso" revenge porn statute (Article 612-ter) also provides some coverage. However, lawmakers argue these provisions don't adequately address the unique nature of AI-generated sexual content—its realism, scalability, and ease of weaponization—and that a standalone criminal offense with tailored penalties is needed.

Why New Legislation Matters

• New criminal offense proposed: Creating or distributing sexually explicit deepfake content ("deepnude") would become a standalone crime under Italian law.

• Digital ban orders: Courts could block internet access for offenders sentenced for digital crimes, even during house arrest.

• Platform accountability: Tech companies operating in Italy would face mandatory monitoring, rapid response, and data retention obligations.

• Sextortion penalties: Lawmakers want harsher sentences for those who extort victims using intimate images or AI-manipulated material.

Legislative Push Born from Real Cases

The Parliamentary Commission on Femicide and Gender-Based Violence unanimously approved the report on April 22, 2026, following a six-month investigation launched in September 2025. The inquiry was triggered by "serious news events" involving sexist forums, chat groups, and online platforms where stolen photographs of women—including actresses, influencers, politicians, and journalists—were shared, commented upon, and weaponized. In some instances, explicit content was fabricated using artificial intelligence and deployed for extortion.

Over 42 witnesses testified before the commission, including representatives from the Postal Police (Italy's cybercrime division), platform operators, technology firms, legal professionals, and the victims themselves. Magistrate Valerio de Gioia served as consultant to the drafting team. The report's three lead authors—Commission President Martina Semenzato, Deputy Sara Ferrari, and Senator Elena Leonardi—framed the final document as both a diagnostic tool and a policy roadmap.

Their conclusion: digital violence is not an isolated phenomenon but a structural component of the online ecosystem, with severe psychological and physical consequences for victims.

Status: Proposals Awaiting LegislationThese recommendations come from the parliamentary commission report approved April 22, 2026. They must now be drafted into actual bills and passed by parliament—expected by late 2026 or early 2027. Current protections under Article 612-quater already address some AI-manipulated content, but the commission's proposals seek to strengthen and expand these safeguards.

What This Means for Residents

If enacted, the commission's recommendations would fundamentally alter how Italy polices the internet and prosecutes digital abuse. The centerpiece is the creation of a specific criminal offense for generating and distributing sexually explicit deepfakes without consent, with penalties tailored to the unique dangers AI-generated content poses.

The report also calls for a "digital daspo" (ban order), a term borrowed from Italian sports law, which would bar convicted offenders from accessing the internet entirely. This measure would extend to individuals under house arrest for digital offenses, closing a loophole where perpetrators continue harassing victims from home using VPNs or alternate accounts.

For everyday users, the most visible change may involve mandatory identity verification tied to certified digital IDs. The commission envisions a system where anonymity online is curtailed, requiring platforms to link accounts to real identities—a controversial proposal that privacy advocates warn could chill free expression but which lawmakers insist is necessary to ensure accountability.

Platform Responsibilities and Enforcement

Tech giants with user bases in Italy would face new obligations. Platforms must monitor content, intervene promptly when violations occur, and preserve evidence for law enforcement. They would also be required to clearly communicate their policies and complaint procedures to Italian users, in Italian. The commission proposes extending the "trusted flagger" mechanism—currently used to fast-track content moderation decisions—to civil society organizations combating gender-based violence.

The Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (Italy's data protection authority) and Agcom (communications regulator) would gain expanded powers, including the ability to order the de-indexing of harmful content from search engines and social feeds. Victims of digital violence would qualify for state-funded legal representation, ensuring that access to justice does not depend on personal wealth.

Sextortion Surge Drives Urgency

The legislative push is fueled in part by alarming statistics. Between January and March 2025, the Postal Police recorded a 59% increase in sextortion cases involving minors compared to the same period in 2024. Among children aged 10 to 13, incidents surged by 200%. The advocacy group PermessoNegato documented 392 cases in 2024 alone, up from just 41 in 2020, and estimates that roughly 1.8 M people in Italy may have been targeted by sextortion schemes.

Contrary to common assumptions, 86% of adult victims reporting to authorities are men, often lured into sharing intimate images through fake dating profiles before facing demands for payment. Women, however, disproportionately suffer non-financial forms of digital abuse, including deepfake pornography distributed to humiliate or silence them.

Sextortion is not a standalone crime under Italian law; prosecutors typically charge offenders with extortion, defamation, threats, or privacy violations under the GDPR. The commission wants enhanced penalties specifically for sexual extortion, recognizing the psychological trauma and reputational harm victims endure.

Education, Journalism, and Cultural Shift

Beyond criminal sanctions, the report emphasizes prevention. Schools and universities would receive funding to strengthen digital literacy curricula and promote gender equality, teaching students to recognize manipulation tactics and abusive behavior online. The commission also proposes changes to the journalists' code of ethics to discourage the phenomenon of "superdiffusione" (super-dissemination), in which news outlets amplify salacious or invasive content under the guise of reporting, further victimizing those targeted.

Investigators would gain access to advanced technical training programs to keep pace with evolving AI tools. The commission notes that many police officers lack the expertise to trace deepfake origins or analyze metadata, hampering prosecutions.

European Context and Next Steps

Italy's approach mirrors legislative trends across the EU. The bloc's AI Act, which entered force in phases beginning in 2024, includes recent amendments explicitly banning "nudifier" applications—software designed to generate non-consensual sexual imagery. The Digital Services Act meanwhile holds platforms liable for failing to remove illegal content swiftly. Countries including Denmark, France, and the United Kingdom have introduced or are planning severe penalties for deepfake distribution.

Yet enforcement remains patchy. High-profile incidents—such as AI chatbots on X (formerly Twitter) generating sexualized images of real people—have prompted investigations by the European Commission, but critics say regulators are outmatched by the speed of technological change.

For Italy, the next phase involves translating the commission's recommendations into draft legislation. Political consensus appears strong; the report passed with unanimous approval across party lines, a rarity in the fractious Italian parliament. Observers expect proposals to be introduced in the coming months, with possible enactment by late 2026 or early 2027.

The outcome will shape not only how Italy prosecutes digital abuse but also how its citizens experience the internet—balancing the promise of connectivity with the urgent need to protect dignity, privacy, and safety in an age where reality itself can be convincingly faked.