Removed AI watermark? You may soon find yourself in a Greek prison
Yet another rather controversial proposal in Greece.
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- Greece’s ruling New Democracy party proposed prison sentences for removing AI deepfake watermarks.
- The EU AI Act requires clear labels for deepfakes and some AI-generated content, but countries set penalties.
- Spain and Ireland have introduced fines, while Greece’s proposal would make enforcement more severe.
- The proposal comes before Greece’s 2027 elections amid European concern over AI-driven disinformation and manipulation.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The Greek government wants to amend the EU AI regulations by adding prison sentences for those who remove AI deepfake watermarks.
The EU AI Act requires clear labeling of deepfakes and AI-generated or manipulated text, with exceptions for artworks and satire, among other categories.
With member states free to decide how to penalize non-compliance with transparency rules, countries such as Spain and Ireland have introduced fines.
Greece’s ruling New Democracy party, however, wants to raise penalties to a new level. It proposed an amendment that would introduce prison sentences for people who remove AI label watermarks, according to Euractiv.
The party added a last-minute proposal to a draft law transposing the EU’s AI Act into national law, which has already undergone a public consultation and is expected to be voted on in parliament soon.
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The New Democracy party has previously tried to ban anonymity online to solve the toxicity of the national political debate, citing rampant fake news and harassment. The government emphasized the need to find a way to verify the identities of users behind social media accounts.
AI as a tool for propaganda
The proposal comes at a time when Greece is heading to national elections in early 2027, and the government may be capitalizing on widespread AI-related concerns in Europe.
Nearly nine in ten (87%) of Europeans agree that online manipulation, including AI-generated content and deepfakes, poses a threat to democratic processes, according to a Eurobarometer survey.
These concerns are not entirely unfounded.
Germany’s far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), launched an AI platform, Alternita, which uses commercial models to rapidly create social media posts promoting its narratives, according to an investigation by Correctiv, a German non-profit media outlet.
The European Digital Media Observatory’s report, released in late 2025, stated that disinformation stories using AI-generated content had reached a new record, with the technology being weaponized to promote well-known false narratives.