Greek FM Gerapetritis denies AI-fabricated dinner story, calls it 'personal targeting'

The publication

On Sunday 2 August 2026, the Greek newspaper Estia ran a front-page story alleging that Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis had dined at the home of a businessman with two senior PASOK figures, Anna Diamantopoulou and MP Manolis Christodoulakis. The report claimed the dinner centred on plans to challenge PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis on election night and to explore post-election cooperation between New Democracy and PASOK. The article was accompanied by a photograph that Gerapetritis later described as a manipulated image produced by artificial intelligence, showing the three as dinner companions. It also included detailed descriptions of a conversation that, according to all three, never took place.

Denials from all three

Gerapetritis issued a statement calling the report and the visual material "absolutely false and figments of imagination". He said he had never met the two PASOK officials privately and expected them to issue similarly categorical denials.

Both the report and the visual material are in their entirety absolutely false and figments of imagination. I presume that a similarly categorical denial will also come from the mentioned PASOK officials, whom I have never met privately.

Diamantopoulou described the story as "extremely false and defamatory" and called on Estia to retract it immediately and apologise. She added that she reserved the right to take legal action. Christodoulakis disclosed that he had already sent a legal notice to the website radar.gr for publishing the same claim.

Government spokesman weighs in

Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis posted on social media that the article was "false from start to finish" and noted the photograph was "clearly a product of artificial intelligence". He remarked that every time the government thinks it has seen everything, another attack appears.

Every time we say we have seen it all, until the next blow. Tomorrow who knows what else we will see, read, hear.

Marinakis linked the incident to a broader pattern of disinformation, mentioning past cases of fabricated stories about national issues, a fake dead child on the Evros river, and manipulated answers. He said the common thread among those who spread lies, character assassinations and toxicity was now visible and dangerous.

Broader disinformation concerns

Marinakis argued that confronting fake news, organised character attacks and the targeting of individuals was not just a matter for the government or a single party. He called it a question of democracy's survival, urging citizens, parties and social bodies to build barriers against toxicity. Gerapetritis, for his part, said the Estia story was the latest in a series of unfounded front pages that personally targeted him with disparaging characterisations and myths. He accused the newspaper of never seeking his comment and of acting in complete opposition to basic journalistic ethics. He demanded a full and immediate retraction, stating that the episode amounted to personal targeting and a serious disruption of the political system.