Emma Watson immersed in reading Gabriel Attal’s book; Cristiano Ronaldo, Rosalía, and Kendrick Lamar all smiling after reading it. The Renaissance party tripped up by sharing on social media fake visuals promoting the new book by the former French Prime Minister. These fake advertisements showed several celebrities giving the book five stars without hesitation.
Generated by artificial intelligence, these images gave the impression that these personalities supported the book, with reviews filled with winks to their universe: “Forget the Ministry of Magic, here’s the real program! Honestly, even Hermione would have devoured it,” one comment attributed to Emma Watson read. “I know what it’s like to work hard every day to stay number one. Gabriel has that winner mentality for his country and it shows on every page,” a critique put into Cristiano Ronaldo’s mouth said.
Painful precedents for Emma Watson
These endorsements were indeed entirely fictitious and the images were used without the consent of the individuals involved. Accused of deceptively using public figures for promotional purposes, Renaissance quickly removed its post on X. Contacted by the Huffington Post, the party pleaded mistake, explaining that originally parodic visuals, created by young activists, had been shared by the web team.
However, the issue gained momentum, especially since this type of manipulation is not new. Particularly for Emma Watson, who has already been targeted by manipulated content by AI, including pornographic deepfakes. Despite the removal of the specific post, it was not immediately deleted on Threads, where many internet users criticized the problematic process. The incident turned into a bad buzz. This episode comes at a bad time for Gabriel Attal, who is counting on the release of this book to solidify his political ambition, aiming for the 2027 presidential election.
Joëlle Mermoud (joc) has been a journalist at 20 minutes since 2009. She covers international news, with a soft spot for quirky stories.
