A pornographic website that posted doctored photos of a host of high-profile Italian women including the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the opposition leader, Elly Schlein, has sparked outrage in Italy.
The photos, accompanied by vulgar and sexist captions, were either harvested from personal social media accounts or public sources before being altered and published on the Italian platform Phica, which has more than 700,000 subscribers.
Images of female politicians from across party lines had been taken during rallies or TV interviews or while the women were in their bikinis on holiday. They had been altered to zoom in on body parts or suggest sexual poses. They were featured in the site’s “VIP section”.
The scandal, which has revived debate in Italy over persistent misogyny and gender-based violence, comes a week after Meta closed down an Italian Facebook account called Mia Moglie (My Wife) where men exchanged intimate photos of their wives or unknown women.
Phica, which is a misspelt play on a slang word for vagina in Italian, was launched in 2005 and appears to have operated unhindered until several politicians from the centre-left Democratic party (PD) announced they had submitted a legal complaint. Police are now investigating.
Meloni, whose sister Arianna was also targeted on the site, did not comment when approached by reporters late on Wednesday, Corriere della Sera reported.
Other high-profile women whose stolen images were used on the site include Paola Cortellesi, an actor and the director of an Italian box office hit about domestic violence, C’è Ancora Domani (There’s Still Tomorrow), and Chiara Ferragni, an influencer.
Valeria Campagna, a PD politician, was among the first to make an official complaint, prompting several others to come forward in what the Italian press is describing as “Italy’s #MeToo”. An online petition calling for the website to be shut down has gathered more than 150,000 signatures.
In a post on Facebook on Wednesday, Campagna wrote that she was “disgusted, angry and disappointed” and “couldn’t stay silent” after discovering that her photos had been published on the site without her consent.
“Not just photos in a swimsuit but moments from my public and private life,” she wrote. “Beneath them there were sexist, vulgar and violent comments. I can’t stay silent because this story isn’t just about me. It’s about all of us. It’s about our right to be free, respected and to live without fear.”
Her fellow PD politicians Alessia Morani, Alessandra Moretti and Lia Quartapelle quickly followed suit.
Morani wrote on Instagram that the comments beneath photos of her were “unacceptable and obscene” and “offend my dignity as a woman”. She added: “Unfortunately, I’m not alone. We must report these groups of men who act in gangs and go unpunished despite numerous complaints. These sites must be shut down and banned. Enough is enough!”
Quartapelle said: “Like many other women, I was a victim of online abuse through unauthorised posting on a porn forum. I decided to fight back by filing a complaint. Not only for myself but, above all, for all the other women who have been victims of this violence.”
Politicians from the right who were targeted include Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and a member of the far-right League, and Daniela Santanchè, Italy’s tourism minister.
Mary Galati, a woman from Palermo who is the promoter of the petition on Change.org, had reportedly twice made official complaints about the site after learning that her photo had been published on it in 2023, but the issue remained under the radar until the politicians spoke out.
The petition cites a study conducted in 2019 by the University of Milan which found that 20% of Italian women had experienced some form of non-consensual sharing of intimate photos.
In July, the Italian senate approved a bill that for the first time introduced a legal definition of femicide in criminal law, punishing it with life in prison, while increasing sentences for crimes including stalking, sexual violence and “revenge porn”.
In response to the Phica scandal, Ignazio La Russa, the president of the senate, condemned the “online sexism involving numerous women”. He said: “This is a very serious matter, one that arouses profound outrage, and for which I hope that the relevant authorities will soon identify those responsible.”
