Fake images of PM Meloni and other women politicians on porn website spark outrage in Italy

A website showing doctored images of thousands of Italian women including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has closed down after a significant backlash.

The scandal involving the online forum Phica, whose name is a play on the Italian word for vagina, broke after politicians reported the matter to the police.

The Italian police have launched investigations into the site's administrators and participants.

"I am disgusted by what has happened, and I want to address my solidarity and closeness to all the women who have been offended, insulted, violated in their intimacy by the managers of this forum and its users," Meloni told the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The Italian prime minister stressed that those who disseminate intimate content without consent commit a serious crime.

MEP Alessandra Moretti and Elly Schlein, the secretary of the country's main opposition party, also had their images used on Phica.

Photos on the site were accompanied by sexist and explicit comments.

“They have been stealing photos and clips from TV shows I’ve appeared on for years, then altering them and feeding them to thousands of users,” Moretti said.

Although complaints had been previously lodged against the site, it had been able to operate "with impunity", she noted.

“This type of site, which incites rape and violence, must be shut down and banned,″ Moretti added.

Her appeal was taken up by other colleagues, including the politician Alessia Morani, who also reported the website.

"The comments are frankly unacceptable and obscene, and they offend my dignity as a woman," Morani wrote in a Facebook post.

"Unfortunately, I'm not alone, and we must all report these groups of men who continue to act in gangs and go unpunished despite the numerous complaints," she said.

"I'm deeply shocked by what happened, but I believe we must all react together."

Following the remarks and further criticism, the forum's administrators announced on Thursday that it would be shut down.

They claimed that the “toxic behaviours” were the result of “wrong use of the platform, which damaged its original spirit".

The scandal came a week after Meta closed an Italian Facebook group called Mia Moglie (My Wife), following pressure from activists.

The company said it took down the page with tens of thousands of members, where men posted intimate images of their partners and other women, “for violating our adult sexual exploitation policies".

In response to the latest misogyny scandal, Sabrina Frasca, an activist with the anti-violence group Differenza Donna, said: “Digital tools became not only a way for men to exercise control over women, but are increasingly used to offend, humiliate and attack them."

Martina Semenzato, president of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Femicide, said that the use of non-consensual images "leaves us horrified".

The Phica forum, which had been online for about twenty years, was not hosted on Italian servers, according to reports.

As the site is veiled in secrecy, there remains no official information on its founders or technical managers.