Overview

• The platform Phica hosted stolen and manipulated photos of women for years, including images of Giorgia Meloni, Elly Schlein and Chiara Ferragni, alongside obscene and violent comments.
• Site operators announced a shutdown and said all content would be deleted, issuing a statement that blamed toxic user behavior; reports cited a user base of up to 700,000.
• Meloni said she was disgusted and urged victims to file complaints, calling for those responsible to be identified quickly and punished without leniency.
• The case became public after PD local politician Valeria Campagna found her photos on the site and filed a complaint, prompting similar reports from other lawmakers.
• The revelations follow the recent closure of a large Facebook group sharing women's images without consent, fueling petitions and cross-party condemnation and renewing debate over Italy's legal tools against digital abuse.