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Spain: PSOE weighs legal action over a Partido Popular AI video showing its current and former figures and the prime minister's wife confessing alleged crimes

During the campaign for Spain's 29 November general election, the Partido Popular (PP) posted on its official social media accounts on 21 October 2026 a video made with artificial intelligence, labelled as AI content, that parodies a PSOE campaign video. It shows AI-generated likenesses of the prime minister's wife Begoña Gómez, former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former minister José Luis Ábalos, former PSOE officials Santos Cerdán and Montse Mínguez and former party member Leire Díez, with imitated voices, each appearing to confess alleged crimes or irregular conduct. PSOE sources told Europa Press the party was studying legal action over the video, which elDiario.es and Cadena SER describe as impersonating these people, and PSOE's organisation secretary said the PP had nothing to offer but insults. PP spokespeople defended the video, saying it was clearly recognisable as AI. Europa Press reported more than a million views on X.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
21 Oct 2026
Reported
22 October 2026
Event location
Spain
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Reputational Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Elections · Public life
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts
6 claims: 1 corroborated, 5 reported. 2 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: An unidentified AI tool that the PP used to produce a video with generated likenesses and imitated voices of PSOE figures; the PP labelled the video as AI-made and its spokespeople confirmed AI use; no tool is named

What Happened

The video. On Wednesday 21 October 2026 the PP posted on its official accounts a video imitating one published by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez that morning, which had answered the visit of Argentina's president to Madrid with the slogan "zurdos y orgullosos" (proud lefties). In the PP version, AI-generated likenesses of six people, the prime minister's wife, a former prime minister, a former minister, two former party officials and a former party member, each say they are "zurdo" because of conduct the video attributes to them, including alleged crimes and irregularities, and the slogan becomes "lerdos y orgullosos" (proud dimwits). elDiario.es reports that the post carries a caption saying the content was made with AI; Cadena SER says the video clones images and voices. Europa Press reported more than a million views on X, more than 500,000 on Instagram and more than 200,000 on TikTok.

The objection. PSOE sources told Europa Press the party was studying legal action and did not rule it out. elDiario.es and Cadena SER describe the video as impersonating these people and manipulating their image and voice. PSOE's organisation secretary told Cadena SER the PP had no project and was using technology for insults. No depicted person's own response is reported in the read sources.

The PP's position. National spokesperson Borja Sémper said there would be a problem if the video had been made with a spurious intention of making people believe the figures were real, but that everyone could see it was a way of using digital tools to expose PSOE hypocrisy. The PP's parliamentary spokesperson said the video was clearly fake because it was AI and accused PSOE of a similar impersonation earlier in the campaign. Party sources said the more PSOE amplified the content, the better.

Reported harm

PSOE says the PP's AI video impersonates its current and former figures and the prime minister's wife, showing them confessing alleged crimes, and is weighing legal action (Europa Press, elDiario.es); no depicted person's own response is reported.

Outcome

Ongoing

On 22 October 2026 PSOE sources told Europa Press the party was studying legal action and did not rule it out, but had not decided whether to proceed or on what offences. The PP's national spokesperson defended the video and its parliamentary spokesperson said PSOE could do what it saw fit. No complaint, court filing or electoral-authority decision is reported as of 22 October 2026.

What remains unknown

  • Whether any depicted person has responded or taken action personally, and whether PSOE files a complaint or court action.
  • Which AI tool the PP used.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The maker, the PP, labelled the video as AI-made content (elDiario.es) and its spokespeople defended using AI to make it (Europa Press). The AI tool generated the likenesses and imitated voices of the six people shown confessing alleged crimes, and that depiction is what PSOE objects to and is weighing legal action over. No tool is named.

6 claims: 1 corroborated, 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Corroborated On 21 October 2026 the PP posted on its official social media accounts an AI-generated video imitating a PSOE campaign video, in which likenesses of current and former PSOE figures and the prime minister's wife appear to confess alleged crimes and irregular conduct.

Causal attribution. Each outlet describes the published video; that the PP made it with AI is the party's own label and statement (c4).

  • europapress.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'El PP lanzó este miércoles en redes sociales un vídeo elaborado por IA imitando al publicado previamente por el PSOE'; 'confesando presuntos delitos y actividades irregulares'
  • eldiario.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'un vídeo generado por inteligencia artificial en el que suplantan la identidad y manipulan la imagen y la voz de la mujer del presidente del Gobierno, Begoña Gómez'; 'Todos aparecen confesando presuntos delitos y actividades irregulares.'
  • cadenaser.com(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'ha hecho uso de la IA para suplantar la identidad no solo de la mujer del presidente del Gobierno, Begoña Gómez'
Reported The post carries a caption saying the content was made with AI, and the voices were imitated.

Causal attribution. The caption is described by elDiario.es and the cloned voice by Cadena SER; each is one outlet's description of the post.

Reported PSOE sources said the party was studying legal action over the video and did not rule it out, without having decided to proceed.

Causal attribution. Attributed to PSOE sources speaking to Europa Press; elDiario.es reports the same position without naming its source.

  • europapress.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'Fuentes de Ferraz trasladan a Europa Press que están estudiando presentar acciones legales y por tanto es una opción que no descartan, aunque todavía no han decidido que vayan a hacerlo'
  • eldiario.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'El PSOE está estudiando emprender acciones legales contra el PP por la difusión de un vídeo generado por inteligencia artificial'
Reported PP spokespeople defended the video, saying everyone could see it used digital tools and was clearly AI and not real.

Causal attribution. The PP spokespeople's own statements to reporters; one origin.

  • europapress.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'Sémper y Muñoz coinciden en que se ve "claramente" que los personajes no son reales y que el vídeo es con Inteligencia Artificial'
  • eldiario.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'Pero todo el mundo es capaz de interpretar que es una manera de utilizar las herramientas digitales para comunicar la hipocresía en la que vive en PSOE'
Reported PSOE's organisation secretary said on Cadena SER that the PP had no project and was using artificial intelligence for insults.

Causal attribution. One radio interview, relayed by elDiario.es.

  • cadenaser.com(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'La secretaria de organización, Rebeca Torró, ha dicho este jueves en los micrófonos de Hoy por Hoy que el PP "no tiene proyecto" y, por eso, "ahora utilizan la tecnología, no tienen otra cosa que el insulto".'
  • eldiario.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'Y ahora, lo vemos utilizando la inteligencia artificial”, ha afirmado este jueves en la Cadena SER.'
Reported Europa Press reported that the video had passed one million views on X, more than 500,000 on Instagram and more than 200,000 on TikTok.

Causal attribution. Europa Press figures; views are an audience measure and are not counted as harmed people.

  • europapress.es(opens in new tab) supports · Spanish
    'El vídeo publicado en las cuentas oficiales del PP ha superado el millón de visualizaciones en 'X', suma algo más de 500.000 visitas en 'Instagram' y en 'Tik Tok' supera las 200.000 vistas.'

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 3 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in full in Spanish by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23 (HTTP 200); the English assertions are the agent's translation and no human translator reviewed them. Applies to s1, s2, s4.

Read in full in Spanish by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23 (HTTP 200); the English assertions are the agent's translation and no human translator reviewed them. Second Europa Press article of the same day, carrying the PP's response. Applies to s3.

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

The video was posted by Spain's Partido Popular during the campaign for Spain's general election and depicts Spanish politicians (all four sources); no court is involved yet.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-23: Published because the maker labelled and defended the video as AI-made, the AI-generated likenesses and voices show identifiable public figures confessing alleged crimes, and PSOE has objected that the video impersonates them and is weighing legal action. No depicted person's own response is reported.

People described

Current and former PSOE figures and the prime minister's wife, public figures depicted in a PP campaign video as confessing alleged crimes; PSOE, the party, objected and is weighing legal action.

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

Six people are depicted. The adverse consequence reported is the party's objection and possible legal action; no depicted person's own response is reported, and the sources do not say on whose behalf the party objects, so no count is recorded (zero placeholders).

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

Tags

#spain#general-election#political-party#ai-video#voice-cloning#impersonation

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Spain: PSOE weighs legal action over a Partido Popular AI video showing its current and former figures and the prime minister's wife confessing alleged crimes. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-spain-psoe-weighs-legal-action-after-partido-popular-posts-ai-video-impersonating-its-figures-confessing-alleged-crimes

BibTeX

@misc{2026_spain_psoe_weighs_legal_action_after_partido_popular_posts_ai_video_impersonating_its_figures_confessing_alleged_crimes,
  title = {Spain: PSOE weighs legal action over a Partido Popular AI video showing its current and former figures and the prime minister's wife confessing alleged crimes},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-spain-psoe-weighs-legal-action-after-partido-popular-posts-ai-video-impersonating-its-figures-confessing-alleged-crimes}
}

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