Title: AI 'Undressed' 28 Girls in One Spanish Town. Then the Law Changed.

**Article:** In September 2023, a group of boys aged 13 to 15 used artificial intelligence apps to create fake nude images of their female classmates in Almendralejo, a town of 34,000 in southwest Spain. They paid nine euros for a platform that swapped real faces onto pornographic bodies, then spread the images widely on WhatsApp and Telegram. The case sent shockwaves through the town and led to therapy for many of the girls and their families. It also became a landmark legal case in Europe, changing how authorities and lawmakers respond to sexual "deepfakes." **A mother's shock** Miriam Al Adib, a gynecologist, discovered her daughter was among the victims. She initially hesitated to report the crime. "Even I didn't know if reporting it was an exaggeration," she said. "The police didn't know what to do either—they didn't know if it was a crime because the bodies weren't really theirs." She made a video that went viral, leading to 22 formal complaints. "I saw four types of violence at once: gender, sexual, digital, and school bullying," she said. "My world collapsed." UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children worldwide have been "undressed" this way, calling it a form of violence against children and gender-based violence. **Legal consequences** The perpetrators were convicted of 20 counts of child pornography and 20 counts of crimes against moral integrity. Eleven boys were identified as the main authors; four were considered accomplices for sharing the images. The main offenders received one year of supervised release and were required to take educational courses on sexuality and responsible technology use. Each victim received 2,000 euros in damages, paid by the boys' parents. Boys as young as 13 were deemed not criminally responsible under Spanish law but received corrective social and educational measures. **A turning point in law** The Almendralejo case pushed Spain to reform its penal code to explicitly criminalize simulated pornography and digital harassment using AI. The government recently passed a law protecting the right to honor, which includes measures against deepfakes. A separate child protection law is pending in Parliament. The European Union also reacted. In May, it agreed to ban AI systems that generate sexual deepfakes across all member states. The EU has also approved a broader AI regulation that includes protections for children. **Data protection action** Spain's data protection agency (AEPD) imposed a pioneering fine and used its emergency channel to force platforms to remove the fake images quickly. The agency ruled that using a real person's face on a naked body without consent violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This administrative route proved faster than the courts in stopping the spread of the material. **A town still healing** In Almendralejo, the topic remains sensitive. One local worker asked reporters not to bring it up: "That was a long time ago, don't go back to that topic, it's forgotten." But the fear lingers. Paz Macías, a mother of two, said she lived through the case with great anxiety. "I thought about how unprotected my children were and how frustrated we were as parents for not being able to prevent it." She installed a monitoring app on her daughter's phone to track her location and control the device. The mayor, José María Ramírez, admitted the town was in shock. "The pressure was enormous, especially from the media," he said. But he added that the case sparked a necessary national debate. Schools in the area now regularly hold workshops on AI for students and parents. The institute where the victims and offenders studied has become a reference point for prevention. Al Adib says the legal outcome gave victims a sense of dignity. "When a crime has a name, it dignifies the victims. It proved we weren't hysterical mothers. There was a part of society that thought we were exaggerating, but we weren't."