Roberto Vannacci faces backlash and potential legal action over AI-altered photo of Matilde Siracusano

The manipulated campaign photo

On Friday, 25 September 2026, Roberto Vannacci, a member of the European Parliament and leader of the Futuro Nazionale movement, published an altered image on his Facebook profile targeting the by-election for the Chamber of Deputies in Reggio Calabria. The graphic depicted Forza Italia Undersecretary for Parliamentary Relations Matilde Siracusano seated at a dining table alongside center-right candidate Fabio Roscioli and Forza Italia Senator Claudio Lotito, the patron of local football club Reggina. The trio held cutlery before a cake decorated with the word "Calabria" under a caption declaring that the seat in Reggio Calabria was not a branch of Arcore or a waste bin for national politics. Digital image editing software was used to remove the white shirt that Siracusano wore beneath her floral jacket in the original photograph, altering the image to display an exaggerated neckline.

Siracusano considers legal action

Siracusano responded on Saturday, 26 September 2026, stating that she is evaluating filing a formal complaint against Vannacci to discourage similar attacks and establish boundaries for digital conduct. Siracusano, who graduated in political science and won election to the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia in Messina in 2018 before taking her government post in 2022, noted that she is not a candidate in the Reggio Calabria race. She attributed the targeted alteration to her personal relationship with Roberto Occhiuto, the president of the Calabria region, with whom she has a son, Tommaso. Siracusano argued that lawmakers must confront abuses of artificial intelligence and set a clear legal example against digital defamation.

Using artificial intelligence to undress a woman, with the clear intention of denigrating a woman, is a massive problem for everyone, it is something of infinite squalor, even more deplorable and serious if done by someone who is running to be a political leader.

Coalition leaders condemn the post

Government ministers and party colleagues across the Italian center-right coalition issued statements condemning the manipulated image. Deputy Prime Minister and Forza Italia leader Antonio Tajani publicly defended Siracusano and criticized the tactics of the Futuro Nazionale founder.

The attack on Matilde Siracusano is vulgar and unacceptable and demonstrates the lack of political content on the part of those who devised it.

Minister for Relations with Parliament Luca Ciriani called the altered picture unworthy and reaffirmed his support for his undersecretary. Additional criticisms came from Forza Italia Senate group leader Stefania Craxi, Forza Italia deputy secretary Deborah Bergamini, and Noi Moderati secretary Mara Carfagna, who described the altered graphic as an act of political sexism intended to target the regional administration.

Electoral contest in Reggio Calabria

The controversy arose during the campaign for the parliamentary seat in Reggio Calabria, where the center-right coalition endorsed Roscioli against a candidate backed by Vannacci's movement. In the original image, Siracusano appeared in standard business attire alongside Lotito and Roscioli, but the graphic composite recombined the figures around a symbolic cake. Siracusano stated that political debates should focus on parliamentary procedures and the allocation of territorial resources rather than altered images. Other parliamentarians, including Forza Italia constitutional affairs group leader Paolo Emilio Russo and Noi Moderati Senator Barbara Gelmini, joined calls for stricter legislative standards regarding artificial intelligence misuse in political discourse.