An Italian website that posted doctored images of well-known women, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with obscene commentary, has announced its closure after a backlash from other female politicians.
The explicit site called Phica, a play on the Italian slang for vagina, now displays a message saying it has shut down 'with great regret' due to the 'toxic behaviour' of some users.
Meloni herself has said she is 'disgusted' by the site and called for those responsible to be punished 'with the utmost firmness'.
The removal of Phica comes days after celebrity figures led a wave of public anger against an Italian Facebook group called Mia Moglie (My Wife), where thousands of men had been swapping intimate images of their partners apparently without their knowledge.
Those pictures were posted with explicit or even violent comments, with users said to include former politicians, businessmen, and police officers.
Meta has since closed down the group for 'violating our adult sexual exploitation policies'.
Phica was a far bigger operation, said to have some 700,000 users, and had been active for two decades despite previous complaints. Its so-called VIP section contained photos of female Italian politicians and other prominent figures, from actresses to influencers, taken either from public appearances or lifted from personal social media accounts.
The images, including beach shots in swimwear, were digitally altered before being posted in albums with titles like 'hot politicians' with other suggestive and sexist captions, prompting vulgar commentary beneath.
Alessandra Moretti, an MEP who spoke out against the site, says it also included incitement to rape, leading to calls for collective action and legislative changes to punish such platforms.
'Complaints are only effective when filed by well-known and influential figures,' Moretti stated, emphasizing the need for ordinary women to be supported against such abuses.
Phica's statement announcing its closure blamed users who had perverted the 'spirit and original purpose' of the platform and pledged that all content would now be deleted.
Italy's Postal Police is now investigating, underscoring the active fight against online sexism.
Despite Phica's claims of blocking violent content, there have been repeated allegations that it harbored images taken without consent from private settings.
Prime Minister Meloni has urged women to report any images that were being shared without their consent, reflecting a national struggle against the normalization of online abuse in 2025.
