Begoña Gómez files complaint against PP over AI video using her image and voice

The complaint

Pedro Sánchez announced on Wednesday, 28 October, during an interview on the Keep It Cutre podcast, that his wife, Begoña Gómez, has filed a complaint for impersonation over a video made with artificial intelligence. The clip was published by the PP on 21 October, during the pre-campaign for the general election of 29 November. In it, an AI-generated Gómez says that holding a university chair because her husband is prime minister makes her left-wing, and the video also features AI versions of José Luis Ábalos, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Leire Díez. According to LaSexta, which had access to the filing, the complaint argues the video attacks her dignity and her rights to identity, image and honour, because it makes her say and do things she would never say or do.

“What the PP is doing is using the same techniques that harassers use against minors.”

What Sánchez said on the podcast

Sánchez also said he decided to call the election after a Sunday lunch with his wife and his parents, according to LaVanguardia. He said the PSOE is not using AI in the 29 November campaign, replying to a letter from Ada Colau, the candidate of the Frente Amplio, who had asked parties not to use the technology for demeaning purposes. He turned to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had acknowledged in an interview that he 'validated' the video, and said this made it an even greater offence. He added that a party seeking to govern should reject such ideas rather than spread them.

“A party that aspires to govern has to fight this kind of idea, not give the ideas that harassers use.”

The PP's response

The PP answered on its official account on X with a sarcastic 'it could be worse' and mocked the Government for asking a judge to shield Gómez from a social media video, saying 'they are adorable'. The party also joked that it could have been sent 'Los rochos', a clan tied to drug trafficking that the reporting says supposedly contacted the so-called Leire plot. It then asked whether the PSOE had also filed a complaint against former socialist militant Leire Díez, who is under judicial investigation over an alleged plan to destabilize court cases affecting socialists.

Court ruling on a similar complaint

On Tuesday, 27 October, Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz rejected a similar complaint filed by Díez against the PP over an AI video in which she appears saying that hiring thugs to remove a female judge is a left-wing trait. Díez had accused the party of calumny with publicity, offences against moral integrity and digital identity impersonation. The judge ruled that the offences attributed to the defendant do not appear among those for which the Audiencia Nacional holds competence, so the complaint was not admitted to proceed at that court.

Legal action and wider context

After the video was published, the PSOE said it was considering legal action against the PP for what it described as impersonating socialists. During the same podcast, Sánchez also linked social media to street violence in cities such as Bilbao and Barcelona, eldiario.es reports. Both complaints concern AI-generated videos published by the PP, although they were filed by different people.