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High reported severity Media Coverage

Galway West, Ireland: broadcaster Gráinne Seoige says an AI-generated sexual deepfake image of her circulated on WhatsApp during her 2024 election campaign

Gráinne Seoige, a broadcaster who stood for Fianna Fáil in Galway West in Ireland's 2024 general election, told RTÉ's Prime Time in January 2026 that people close to her alerted her during the campaign to sexualised images of her made with deepfake technology. She says the AI-generated pornographic image was disseminated through WhatsApp, shared hundreds if not thousands of times by her account, and that when gardaí sought its origin some recipients refused to cooperate, so the investigation hit a dead end. She kept silent during the campaign and has described the experience as deeply traumatising, with shame and humiliation lasting almost a year and a half. In a September 2026 interview relayed by RSVP Live from the Sunday Independent she described night terrors of faceless men tearing her clothes off and wearing a long puffer coat everywhere so her body could not be seen. She has since appeared before the Oireachtas media committee (Irish Independent, 21 January 2026), and made a Virgin Media documentary on deepfake abuse, scheduled for broadcast on 5 October 2026. In passages from it quoted by RSVP Live and the Irish Sun on 4 October 2026 she says she was shown the image in September or October 2024, that it made her not want to go outside, that she moved away from her home and that she has had therapy; she also says she believes the image was politically motivated. The Irish Times, reviewing the documentary on 5 October 2026, reports that in it she learns from a Dublin technology company that further images taken from her Instagram account have been manipulated with deepfake software, which was news to her. The tool used to make the image and the person who made it are not identified.

AI system
Unidentified image tool
Occurred
2024
Reported
14 January 2026
Event location
Ireland
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Psychological DistressExploitation or AbuseReputational Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Everyday life · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 7 sources, 2 underlying accounts
12 claims: 12 reported. 8 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: An unidentified generative-AI or deepfake tool used to make a sexualised image of a real person (described as 'made with deepfake technology' by RTÉ and as an 'AI-generated pornographic image' in her Oireachtas statement reported by the Irish Examiner); the tool and its maker are not identified

What Happened

RTÉ News reported on 14 January 2026, from Sarah McInerney's Prime Time interview, that Ms Seoige was alerted by people close to her to the circulation of sexualised deepfake images while she was standing as a candidate in the Galway West constituency in the 2024 general election, while she was canvassing daily. She called it 'the most shocking thing that's ever happened to me in my life', said she chose not to speak publicly at the time and repressed it to get on with the campaign, and said she had dealt with 'the shame and humiliation of this for almost a year and a half'. She said the image was disseminated through WhatsApp and that when gardaí became aware people had the image and sought its origin, some recipients refused to share that information. The Irish Examiner (20 January 2026) reported her prepared statement to the Oireachtas media committee: that 'the AI-generated pornographic image of me was shared hundreds, if not thousands, of times across WhatsApp', and that like other victims she was told gardaí lacked powers to identify perpetrators or compel others to do so, so her case 'hit a dead end'. RSVP Live (27 September 2026), relaying an interview she gave to the Sunday Independent before her Virgin Media documentary, reported her description of night terrors of 'faceless men coming by and just ripping my clothes off as they pass me', of a period when she wore a long puffer coat everywhere because she did not want anyone to see her body, and of receiving online abuse from men whenever she raises the issue. RSVP Live and the Irish Sun (both 4 October 2026) quoted passages from the documentary, titled Deepfake Ireland with Gráinne Seoige in both reports and scheduled for Virgin Media One at 9pm on Monday 5 October 2026. In those passages she says she found the image deeply humiliating and 'such an attack on my dignity', that it made her feel incredibly vulnerable and distrusting of people and not want to go outside, and: 'I moved away from my home.' She says she was shown the image in September or October 2024 and had not looked at it since; the Irish Sun reports that she weeps on camera on seeing it again. She says she has had therapy to deal with the experience and that people make fun of it online. She describes spending the rest of the day she was told knocking on doors in Connemara wondering whether each man who answered had seen the image, and having to sit down in the family kitchen and tell her father and mother. She says the experience 'completely destabilises your sense of safety in the world' and left her hypervigilant. She says the image 'was done for a very specific reason. It was politically motivated', and the Irish Sun reports that she says it helped to scupper her election chances. The Irish Sun also reports that she contacted gardaí, Meta and the media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, that no one was ever prosecuted for creating the image, and that she previously said she wore a face mask at the shops after it circulated. The Irish Times reviewed the documentary on 5 October 2026, the day of broadcast. Its reviewer writes that she is on the brink of tears as she recalls becoming the victim of deepfake pornography created using AI while canvassing in 2024, that she has had nightmares in which faceless men attack her, and that she meets a representative of the Dublin-based technology company Ceartas and discovers that further images taken from her Instagram account have been manipulated by deepfake software, which the review says was news to her. The documentary itself was not viewed for this record; these passages come from the two preview reports and The Irish Times review. The sharing figure is her own estimate. The tool used, the creator and the precise dates of creation and circulation are not reported; the event is placed in the campaign for the 2024 general election.

Reported harm

Ms Seoige says the circulation of an AI-generated sexualised image of her during her 2024 election campaign left her deeply traumatised, with lasting shame and humiliation and recurring nightmares of being attacked, and that the Garda investigation could not identify those responsible (her accounts to RTÉ Prime Time, the Oireachtas committee via the Irish Examiner, and the Sunday Independent via RSVP Live). In passages from her documentary quoted by RSVP Live and the Irish Sun on 4 October 2026 she says it made her not want to go outside, that she moved away from her home and that she has had therapy. The Irish Times review of the documentary (5 October 2026) reports that during filming she learned that further images from her Instagram account had been manipulated with deepfake software.

Outcome

Unknown

Ms Seoige says she reported the image to An Garda Síochána, that gardaí sought information about its origin, that some recipients refused to share it and that her case 'hit a dead end' (RTÉ, 14 January 2026; Irish Examiner, 20 January 2026). No arrest or charge is reported. She appeared before the Oireachtas media committee in January 2026 urging action on AI-generated sexualised deepfakes (Irish Independent, 21 January 2026; her prepared statement previewed by the Irish Examiner, 20 January 2026), and RSVP Live (27 September 2026) reported that her documentary, which it called Deepfake Ireland: The Naked Truth, was due to air on Virgin Media the following week. RSVP Live and the Irish Sun (4 October 2026) give the title as Deepfake Ireland with Gráinne Seoige and the broadcast as Monday 5 October 2026 at 9pm on Virgin Media One. The Irish Sun reports that she also went to Meta and to the media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, and that no one was ever prosecuted for creating the image. The Irish Times reviewed the documentary on 5 October 2026 and reports that during filming she learned of further deepfake manipulations of images from her Instagram account; no action over those images is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Who made the image and with which tool.
  • The exact dates of creation and circulation within the 2024 campaign; she says she was shown the image in September or October 2024.
  • Whether any Garda investigation remains open; no arrest or charge is reported, and the Irish Sun says no one was ever prosecuted for creating the image.
  • Whether she has received a clinical diagnosis: none is stated in the sources read.
  • Where she moved from and to, and when; she says only that she moved away from her home.
  • What Meta and Coimisiún na Meán did in response to her approaches.
  • Whether the broadcast matched the version reviewed: the film was not viewed for this record, and its content comes from two preview reports of 4 October and The Irish Times review of 5 October 2026.
  • How many further manipulated images were found during filming, who made them, when, and whether they circulated.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. RTÉ reports sexualised images of her 'made with deepfake technology', and the Irish Examiner reports her statement that 'the AI-generated pornographic image of me' was shared hundreds, if not thousands, of times on WhatsApp. The Irish Times review describes her as the victim of deepfake pornography created using AI and reports that further images from her Instagram account were manipulated by deepfake software. The generated image depicts her and its circulation is the source of the shame, nightmares and withdrawal she describes. The tool and maker are unknown and no forensic finding is reported.

12 claims: 12 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Gráinne Seoige says that while she was a candidate in Galway West in the 2024 general election she was alerted to the circulation of sexualised images of her made with deepfake technology, that the experience was the most shocking of her life and deeply traumatising, and that she has dealt with shame and humiliation for almost a year and a half.

Causal attribution. Her own account in successive interviews and statements (one account-holder, so not independent corroboration). The creator and tool are unknown.

  • rte.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Broadcaster Gráinne Seoige has said that sexualised images of her made with deepfake technology have left her deeply traumatised.'; 'Ms Seoige was alerted by people close to her of the circulation of such images while she was standing as a candidate in the Galway West constituency in the 2024 general election.'; '"I’ve had to deal with the shame and humiliation of this for almost a year and a half," she said. "It has been deeply traumatising."'
  • irishexaminer.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'During the campaign, explicit deepfake images of her were created using AI.'
  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'she recalls how she became the victim of deepfake pornography created using AI while canvassing for election in 2024.'
Reported She says the AI-generated image was disseminated through WhatsApp, by her account shared hundreds if not thousands of times, and that when gardaí sought its origin some recipients refused to cooperate, so her case hit a dead end.

Causal attribution. Her own account; the sharing figure is her estimate. No Garda statement was read.

  • rte.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Ms Seoige said the image of her was disseminated through WhatsApp, owned by Meta, and that when gardaí became aware people were in possession of the image, they sought information about its origin.'; 'Rather than cooperate, she said, some recipients refused to share that information.'
  • irishexaminer.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Ms Seoige will say that her case “hit a dead end” and “even though the AI-generated pornographic image of me was shared hundreds, if not thousands, of times across WhatsApp'
Reported In a September 2026 interview she described night terrors of faceless men tearing her clothes off and a period when she wore a long puffer coat everywhere so that nobody could see her body.

Causal attribution. Her own account, relayed by RSVP from a Sunday Independent interview that was not itself read.

  • rsvplive.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Grainne Seoige has told of experiencing nightmares of being attacked after AI deepfake images of her circulated online.'; 'The Galway native often had night terrors of "faceless men coming by and just ripping my clothes off as they pass me."'; '"I went through a period where I just wore a long puffer coat everywhere I went.'
  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) context · English
    'Since then she has had nightmares in which faceless men attack her.'
Reported In January 2026 she appeared before an Oireachtas committee and urged TDs and senators to act against AI-generated sexualised deepfakes.

Causal attribution. The Irish Independent report of her appearance (headline and opening read); the Examiner item is a preview of her prepared statement.

  • independent.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'What we know after Gráinne Seoige appears before Oireachtas committee urging action on sexualised AI deepfakes'; 'Gráinne Seoige has urged TDs and senators to act against AI-generated sexualised deepfakes'
  • irishexaminer.com(opens in new tab) context · English
    'The creation and dissemination of deepfake explicit images will be the “abuse scandal of the 21st century if we do not act now”, television presenter Gráinne Seoige is set to tell TDs and senators.'
Reported In passages from her documentary quoted on 4 October 2026, she says she found the image deeply humiliating and an attack on her dignity, that it made her feel incredibly vulnerable and distrusting of people and not want to go outside, that she moved away from her home, and that she has terrible nightmares of faceless men.

Causal attribution. Her own account in the documentary, as quoted before broadcast by RSVP Live and the Irish Sun; the documentary was not viewed. One account-holder, so not independent corroboration.

  • rsvplive.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I found it deeply humiliating. It was such an attack on my dignity. It made me feel incredibly vulnerable, distrusting of people, it made me not want to go outside. I moved away from my home. I have terrible nightmares of faceless men coming by and just ripping my clothes off as they pass me.'
  • thesun.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'It made me not want to go outside. I moved away from my home. It was such an attack on my dignity.'; 'It made me feel incredibly vulnerable. Distrusting of people. I have terrible nightmares.'
Reported She says in the documentary that she was shown the image in September or October 2024 and had not looked at it since; the Irish Sun reports that she weeps on camera on seeing it again and says she felt she could vomit.

Causal attribution. Her own account and the Irish Sun's description of the documentary, which was not viewed.

  • thesun.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I was shown this image in September or October 2024, and I haven’t seen it since.'; 'weeps on camera as she sees the horrendous image'; 'right now I feel like I could vomit, looking at it again'
Reported She says she has had therapy to deal with the experience and that people make fun of it; the Irish Sun also reports that she previously said she wore a face mask at the shops after the image circulated.

Causal attribution. Her own account as quoted by the Irish Sun; no clinical record is cited.

  • thesun.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I’ve had to have therapy to deal with all this'; 'People make fun of it.'; 'previously told how she wore a face mask at the shops after the image was circulated online'
Reported She says that on the day she was told about the image she spent the rest of the day knocking on doors in Connemara wondering whether each man who answered had seen it, that she had to tell her father and mother, and that the experience destabilised her sense of safety and left her hypervigilant.

Causal attribution. Her own account in the documentary, as quoted before broadcast by RSVP Live and the Irish Sun; the documentary was not viewed. One account-holder, so not independent corroboration.

  • rsvplive.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I spent the rest of that day knocking on doors in Connemara'; 'I had to sit down in the family kitchen and tell my father and mother.'; 'It completely destabilises your sense of safety in the world.'; 'hyper vigilant the whole time, which is exhausting'
  • thesun.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'I had to sit down in the family kitchen and tell my father and mother'
Reported She says the image was made for a very specific reason and was politically motivated; the Irish Sun reports that she says it helped to scupper her election chances and that she told an Oireachtas committee she would not recommend that a woman run for public office.

Causal attribution. Her own belief about motive and effect; the maker is unidentified and no finding on motive or on the election result is reported.

Reported The Irish Sun reports that she contacted gardaí, Meta and the media regulator Coimisiún na Meán, that no one was ever prosecuted for creating the image, and that she spoke of powerlessness because the origin of the picture could not be found given WhatsApp's encryption.

Causal attribution. The Irish Sun's summary; no Garda, Meta or regulator statement was read.

  • thesun.ie(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Grainne contacted Gardai and also went to'; 'parent company, and the media regulator, Coimisiun na Mean, as she fought to get justice'; 'no one was ever prosecuted for creating the fake image'; 'nothing could be done to find where the picture originated from given WhatsApp’s encryption'
Reported The documentary, Deepfake Ireland with Gráinne Seoige, was scheduled to air on Virgin Media One at 9pm on Monday 5 October 2026, and The Irish Times reviewed it that day.

Causal attribution. Broadcast listing as reported on 4 and 5 October 2026; the review is dated 5 October.

Reported The Irish Times review reports that in the documentary she meets a representative of a Dublin-based technology company, Ceartas, and discovers that further images taken from her Instagram account have been manipulated by deepfake software, which was news to her.

Causal attribution. The reviewer's description of the film; how many images were found, when they were made and whether they circulated are not reported.

  • irishtimes.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'of Dublin-based technology company Ceartas, where she discovers that further images taken from her Instagram account have been manipulated by deepfake software. This is news to Seoige, who is understandably appalled.'

Sources

7 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

rte.ie returned 403 on 2026-09-28 and again on 2026-10-05; read in full through the Internet Archive id_ capture (re-read 2026-10-05 from the capture of 6 May 2026). Report of her Prime Time interview (13 January 2026 edition). Applies to s1.

Read live on 2026-09-28 and re-read live on 2026-10-05 (20 January 2026). Reports her prepared statement to the Oireachtas media committee; the committee transcript was not read. Applies to s2.

rsvplive.ie returned 202 with an empty body; the same article (RSVP, Michelle Townsend, 27 September 2026) was read in full through the MSN content API. It relays her interview with the Sunday Independent, which was not readable (independent.ie 403, Archive 404). Re-read through the MSN content API on 2026-10-05. Applies to s3.

independent.ie returned 403 on 2026-09-28; the headline and opening paragraph (Maeve McTaggart, 21 January 2026) were read through a reader relay by the second researcher (bodies/verify-seoige-indo-oireachtas.txt); the remainder is paywalled and was not read. Separate group: the paper's own report of her committee appearance, used only for that fact. independent.ie returned 403 again on 2026-10-05; not re-read, the 2026-09-28 extract is relied on. Applies to s4.

Read in full on 2026-10-05 through the MSN content API, which carries the RSVP article (reporter byline, timestamp 3 October 2026 23:01 UTC, 4 October Irish time) and names this address as its source. Quotes her statements in the documentary before broadcast. Applies to s5.

Read in full on 2026-10-05 from the publisher's own REST endpoint for this post (the article page returned a device-verification screen). The Irish Sun, 4 October 2026 08:00. Quotes her statements in the documentary before broadcast and adds the paper's own summary of the Garda outcome. Same account-holder as the other sources, so the same group. Applies to s6.

Read in full on 2026-10-06 from irishtimes.com (HTTP 200). A television review published on 5 October 2026, the broadcast date, describing the documentary's content; it relays her statements in the film, so it shares her account's group. Applies to s7.

Event countries: Ireland. Affected-person countries: Ireland. Court countries: Unknown.

The image circulated while she was a candidate in the Galway West constituency in the 2024 Irish general election and she reported it to An Garda Síochána (RTÉ; Irish Examiner). RSVP calls her a Galway native. No court proceedings are reported. She describes canvassing in Connemara on the day she was told (RSVP Live, 4 October 2026).

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-06: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated): an AI-generated sexualised image depicting Ms Seoige, a public figure, circulated during her 2024 election campaign, and she has described its effects on the record in interviews, to an Oireachtas committee and in a documentary. The account is hers and the creator is unidentified. No sexual imagery is described beyond its nature. Updated on 2026-10-06 from The Irish Times review of the documentary, which reports that she learned during filming of further deepfake manipulations of images from her Instagram account; the added claim is reported and attributed to the review.

People described

Gráinne Seoige, an Irish broadcaster and Fianna Fáil candidate in Galway West at the 2024 general election, speaking publicly about her own experience

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One depicted person, Gráinne Seoige, who describes her own experience (RTÉ; Irish Examiner; RSVP Live). The other victims she says she has spoken to are separate experiences and are not counted. Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#deepfakes#non-consensual-intimate-imagery#ireland#galway#election#whatsapp#public-figure

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Galway West, Ireland: broadcaster Gráinne Seoige says an AI-generated sexual deepfake image of her circulated on WhatsApp during her 2024 election campaign. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-seoige-ai-deepfake-sexual-image-galway-west-election

BibTeX

@misc{2024_seoige_ai_deepfake_sexual_image_galway_west_election,
  title = {Galway West, Ireland: broadcaster Gráinne Seoige says an AI-generated sexual deepfake image of her circulated on WhatsApp during her 2024 election campaign},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-seoige-ai-deepfake-sexual-image-galway-west-election}
}

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