German prosecutors said they have revived a probe into the ex-husband of a prominent TV personality, after claims that he spread AI-generated pornographic images of her triggered a national outcry.
The allegations from Collien Fernandes, 44, have sparked intense media debate about the “digital violence” increasingly perpetrated on the internet, mostly against women.
News weekly Der Spiegel first reported last week on the case of Fernandes, who spoke of her shock at discovering that hundreds of fake pornographic images of her had been circulating on the internet.
She later started to suspect they had been created by artificial intelligence and shared by her former partner, fellow actor Christian Ulmen, 50, via fake social media accounts that appeared to be hers, she said.
The prosecutor’s office in the northern city of Itzehoe said it was re-opening a probe into Fernandes’s ex-husband after evaluating Der Spiegel’s reporting.
An earlier investigation was suspended in June last year due to insufficient information.
“The investigation in the previously closed case has been reopened,” the office said in a statement. “This proceeding concerns the allegation of stalking.”
