Blogger Victoria Bogna posted an AI-generated video on Instagram. In it, she appears as a superhero who fights against propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, blogger Artemy Lebedev and State Duma member Vitaly Mironov.
In the video, Bonya, dressed as Spider-Man, webs Solovyov’s mouth, ties up Lebedev as he hurls insults at him, and knocks Mironov off his feet. “I’ve had enough,” she said in the video.
The video received 5 million views and 242,000 likes within nine hours of being posted. In the caption, Bonya called for the creation of a “community of women who can build beauty together on this planet.”
The AI clip followed Bonya’s new speech in response to criticism and insults leveled at her by Solovyov and Mironov, as well as Lebedev’s comments about women. The video received 11.5 million views and 759,000 likes in 15 hours.
“Right now there is a lot of talk about traditional values. […] Are traditional values allowing adult men to insult women on live television and federal channels? [perform a sex act]? […] Why are such people today representing the interests of the people and attracting public attention? Isn’t it about time for them to retire? ” Bonya wrote in the caption.
She urged her followers to stop watching Mr. Solovyov’s show and Mr. Lebedev’s blog, and said she was preparing a class action lawsuit against the men who insulted her and called on other women who have been publicly insulted by them to join.
Solovyov and Mironov had criticized and insulted Bonya after she recorded a speech to President Vladimir Putin. According to the video, her complaints against Lebedev are related to his comments about other women.
On April 14, Viktoria Bonya issued a speech to President Vladimir Putin “on behalf of the people” in which she listed five issues that she believes have not been conveyed to the president in full – including flooding in Dagestan, pollution of the coast near Anapa, and internet restrictions. By April 19, the video had been viewed 28.5 million times and received 1.5 million likes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the speech touched on “resonant themes” and said: “A lot of work is already underway, a lot of people are involved, and nothing is left alone.” After Peskov’s remarks, Bonya recorded another video thanking the Kremlin for “not turning a blind eye.”
A political bloc in Russia’s presidential palace has asked pro-Kremlin media not to pursue the content of Bonya’s speech, a media source told Meduza.
At Meduza, we are committed to being transparent about our use of artificial intelligence in our newsrooms. The article you’re reading was written by one of our living journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinement to ensure that our coverage in English is timely and accurate. Meduza editors review all drafts before publication.
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