{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-10T08:05:48.798Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"non-consensual intimate imagery","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2024-seoige-ai-deepfake-sexual-image-galway-west-election","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'During the campaign, explicit deepfake images of her were created using AI.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'she recalls how she became the victim of deepfake pornography created using AI while canvassing for election in 2024.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Since then she has had nightmares in which faceless men attack her.'","relation":"context","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'I had to sit down in the family kitchen and tell my father and mother'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c9","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'This was done for a very specific reason. It was politically motivated.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'she says helped to scupper her election chances'; 'meant she wouldn’t recommend a woman to run for public office'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"},{"locator":"'because it surfaced at a time when she was standing for election for Fianna Fáil in Galway West'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c10","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c11","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'airs Monday, 5 October at 9 pm on Virgin Media PLAY and Virgin Media One'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"},{"locator":"'which airs on Virgin Media One at 9pm tomorrow'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"},{"locator":"'Deepfake Ireland with Gráinne Seoige, Monday, Virgin Media One, 9pm'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c12","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"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."}],"effects":[{"label":"deeply traumatised, with lasting shame and humiliation, after a sexualised deepfake image of her circulated during her election campaign","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"recurring nightmares of being attacked and a period of hiding her body under a long coat","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"did not want to go outside and moved away from her home, by her account","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"},{"label":"learned during filming that further images from her Instagram account had been manipulated with deepfake software","claim_id":"c12","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2026/0114/1552987-grainne-seoige/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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).","independence_group":"seoige-own-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41779358.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"seoige-own-account"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.rsvplive.ie/news/celebs/grainne-seoige-experienced-nightmares-being-37707633","kind":"news_relay","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"seoige-own-account"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/what-we-know-after-grainne-seoige-appears-before-oireachtas-committee-urging-action-on-sexualised-ai-deepfakes/a/125585403.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"independent-ie-oireachtas"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.rsvplive.ie/news/celebs/grainne-seoige-said-deepfake-images-37725097","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"seoige-own-account"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.thesun.ie/tv/17711501/grainne-seoige-deepfake-ireland-ai-abuse-tears-nightmares/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"seoige-own-account"},{"id":"s7","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2026/10/05/deepfake-ireland-on-virgin-media-grainne-seoiges-distress-in-this-grim-film-is-palpable/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"seoige-own-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","everyday_life","justice"],"unknowns":["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."],"geography":{"basis":"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).","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["IE"],"affected_person_countries":["IE"]},"publication":{"basis":"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.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-06"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"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.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Galway West, Ireland: broadcaster Gráinne Seoige says an AI-generated sexual deepfake image of her circulated on WhatsApp during her 2024 election campaign","summary":"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.","incidentDate":"2024-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-01-14","aiSystem":"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","aiProduct":"Unidentified image tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress","exploitation_or_abuse","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"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.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"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.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"IE","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2026/0114/1552987-grainne-seoige/","primarySourceLabel":"RTÉ News, 14 January 2026: Gráinne Seoige: Sexualised deepfake images left me traumatised","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-28T03:31:40.162359+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-06T03:05:33.997291+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfakes","non-consensual-intimate-imagery","ireland","galway","election","whatsapp","public-figure","depicted-or-impersonated"]}]}