Giorgia Meloni ‘disgusted’ at posting of photos of her and other women on porn site | Giorgia Meloni

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said she is “disgusted” that photos of her and other women were posted on a pornographic website, and called for the perpetrators to be swiftly identified and “punished with the utmost firmness”.

Images of Meloni’s sister, Arianna, and the opposition leader, Elly Schlein, were also discovered on the Italian platform Phica, which had more than 700,000 subscribers before its managers closed the site on Thursday, blaming users for “using the platform incorrectly”.

The photos, accompanied by vulgar and sexist captions, were taken from either personal social media accounts or public sources without consent and altered to zoom in on body parts or depict the women in sexual poses. Dozens of women have come forward to file complaints about Phica and similar platforms since the scandal was exposed this week by several prominent women.

“I am disgusted by what has happened,” Meloni told Corriere della Sera on Friday. “I want to extend my solidarity and support to all the women who have been offended, insulted and violated.”

She added: “It is disheartening to note that in 2025, there are still those who consider it normal and legitimate to trample on a woman’s dignity and target her with sexist and vulgar insults, hiding behind anonymity or a keyboard.”

Last week Meta closed down an Italian Facebook account called Mia Moglie (My wife) on which men exchanged intimate photos of their wives or unknown women.

Phica, which is a misspelt play on a slang word for vagina in Italian, was launched in 2005 and appears to have operated unhindered despite women reporting the platform. Police began an investigation after receiving official complaints from several politicians in the centre-left Democratic party (PD).

Doctored images of high-profile women featured in the site’s “VIP section”.

Meloni told Corriere that those responsible must be identified and punished “with the utmost firmness”.

“Content that is considered harmless can, in the wrong hands, become a terrible weapon. And we must all be aware of this,” she added.

A study in 2019 by the University of Milan found that 20% of Italian women had experienced some form of non-consensual sharing of intimate photos.