What the video shows

A Spain deepfake video circulated by the main opposition party has drawn fury in the run-up to the 29 November general election. The piece, launched this week across the PP's social media channels, used artificial intelligence to manipulate the likenesses of figures linked to the Socialist party.

In the manipulated footage, the subjects appear to confess to wrongdoing they have never admitted to:

• •An AI-generated Begoña Gómez, the prime minister's wife, speaks about receiving a university post thanks to her husband's job.
• •A deepfake of former Socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero discusses hiding jewellery in a safe.
• •The video also shows figures apparently admitting to acts such as soliciting prostitutes and taking kickbacks.

The lines involving Gómez and Zapatero echo ongoing investigations in which both have denied any wrongdoing. By Friday the video had racked up nearly 2m views.

Government and legal response

Óscar López, Spain's digital transformation minister, condemned the video bluntly. "It's telling people a colossal lie, and for a party to do it on its official accounts seems intolerable to me," he said. Speaking to broadcaster TVE, he warned that the tiny, nearly transparent AI disclosure made it easy for anyone unfamiliar with AI to mistake the video for reality, which he called extremely serious.

On Friday, Leire Díez, a former Socialist party member whose likeness appears in the video, filed a legal challenge against the PP. Her court complaint reportedly accuses the party of defamation and digital identity theft and calls for the advert's immediate removal. The video uses her image to hint at accusations that she worked to undermine judicial and law enforcement bodies to help the Socialists.

Legal experts split on legality

A panel of nine legal experts consulted by El País mostly concluded that the PP deepfake election ad was not illegal, given that the video was labelled as AI-generated and carried a satirical tone. Íñigo Navarro, former dean of law at Madrid's Comillas Pontifical University, argued that viewers understand the confessions are fabricated. "Given the context, everyone knows those people didn't say those things," he said.

Others drew a line between what the law allows and what campaigns should do. "It's quite another matter to ask whether it's appropriate, exemplary or ethically and politically correct," said Juan Antonio Lascuraín, a criminal law professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

José Javier Olivas of Spain's National University for Distance Education called the party's use of AI in its campaign truly regrettable, saying that putting words in people's mouths amounts to disinformation. "You're using the images of other people, putting words in their mouths that they're not saying, [and] this qualifies for disinformation," he said, describing it as a red line for campaigns.

PP defends the ad, election looms

Borja Sémper, of the PP, dismissed the criticism, saying the video was not intended to deceive. "But everyone can see that this is a way of using digital tools to highlight the hypocrisy in which the Socialist party operates," he said.

Díez's challenge against the PP is now filed, with calls for the advert to be taken down immediately. Most polls suggest the PP will win the 29 November general election but will need the support of the far-right Vox party to govern.