The complaint says the PP video had drawn 2.3 million views. It also had more than 2,000 comments and 35,000 interactions. On 23 October, the party circulated the AI-generated campaign clip, which digitally cloned the appearance and voices of Begoña Gómez and several figures associated with the PSOE. Spain’s general election is scheduled for 29 November. Gómez says the party used her face and voice without her consent and asks a court to investigate those responsible for its official social-media accounts.
Filed on 28 October, her complaint seeks the identification and testimony of those responsible for managing the PP’s official profiles. It specifically names Miguel Tellado, the party’s secretary general and a campaign official. The filing also asks investigators to examine whether anyone in the party structure instructed the staff member managing the accounts. Gómez alleges that the video made her appear to say things she had never said.
The clip portrayed several people linked to the PSOE, including former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, Santos Cerdán and Leire Díez. Gómez appeared to endorse the claim that she had obtained a university chair because her husband is prime minister. The video was referring to the judicial case against her, led by investigating magistrate Juan Carlos Peinado.
Gómez argues that the video may fall under a Penal Code provision covering the use of someone’s image without consent in certain public material when it causes harassment or humiliation. She says the AI-generated portrayal harms her identity and image and damages her honour. Spain has no specific statutory rule expressly governing this kind of electoral face-and-voice impersonation. The general electoral, civil and criminal frameworks may still apply. Electoral law, for example, includes a rectification mechanism for harmful inaccurate facts.
That legal argument faces a significant hurdle. More than half a dozen jurists consulted by EL PAÍS said a criminal case over the video would be difficult to advance. They pointed to the broad protection Spanish and European case law gives to freedom of expression, satire and parody, particularly in politics. They also said the context makes it hard to mistake the clip for genuine footage, although the AI warning appears in small, transparent lettering at the bottom. EU rules on political-advertising transparency and the Artificial Intelligence Act also form part of the regulatory framework. A proposed Spanish initiative to regulate this kind of content lapsed after the Cortes were dissolved ahead of the early election.
A separate proceeding involves Leire Díez, a former PSOE member who filed a complaint against the PP at the Audiencia Nacional. The court rejected it. Judge Santiago Pedraz concluded that the alleged conduct was unrelated to his investigation into a suspected scheme to obstruct judicial inquiries affecting the PSOE. Díez’s filing alleged public defamation and cited offences against moral integrity and digital identity impersonation.
The PP responded to Gómez’s complaint on X by referring to Los Rochos, an alleged drug-trafficking clan that, according to the source, a purported network linked to Díez had contacted over surveillance of judge Beatriz Biedma. Biedma had investigated David Sánchez, the prime minister’s brother.
For more on footage involving the PP leader, see this report on Feijóo at a Madrid event in 2023.
