I've held back on this until now, partly as I wasn't clear on the level of whoopsie from my missus' homeland, but for a couple of weeks my very italian wife has been telling me about the scandal that seems to be breaking around italian media.

Tbh I probably wouldn't have flagged this, but then I saw this tweet https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/2021257119006073130?s=20 and recognised one of the people communicating the the JE email chain mentioned is an Italian native speaker (giovedi, dicembre, ha scritto, all Italian), so someone is linked to Italy and the files. So without further ado, I give you falssisimo and it's presenter, Fabrizio Corona.

A brief and uncomplicated history of Italian TV

First, you have to have a basic understanding of the Italian media, which for decades was basically controlled by the Berlusconis, particularly the Papa, Silvio. He had I believe all of Rai (Italy's primary broadcaster, think BBC Italy as it is a state run org) effectively under editorial control while he was in charge, and the influence never went away.

Then he setup Mediaset, which basically runs all the "trash" TV you could ask for. Phone in music series, dating shows, big brother, and Italy's take on survivor, that sort of thing. Now that the elder has passed, his son controls the same power his dad had, because he owns basically the private news networks and still has a helluva lot of sway over the state ones.

This family also leveraged one Alfonso Signorini to be in charge of a print empire on their behalf as well. More about him in a minute, as it was his activities that started to rock the ship of corruption in Italian media. Now that y'all have at least a transient layer of understanding, it's time to introduce our man playing James O'Keefe's role clashed with Alex Jones' flair for drama: Fabrizio Corona.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Corona

The man is a showman - has done time for, as he put it, "doing what everyone else in the industry was doing" (aka blackmail, which along with tax fraud seems to be a national pastime for EVERYONE) and since getting out, he built a YouTube channel to over 1m followers. His style is uniquely Italian, and The past few weeks he got into a legal slap flight with Alfonso Signorini, claiming he abused his position to force sexual favors from upcoming male media personalities.

The story gets incredibly sordid, as only an Italian scandal can, with entire networks worth of media personalities getting hit with shrapnel from his claims. People being forced out of their lifelong career because they are rivals with a more influential presenter, shows being "rigged" for contestants by presenters, and of course lots of sexual inpropriety with contestants and media personalities there.

Well, a few weeks ago, he began to post and do videos on Signorini, and got himself a lot of contacts indicating they too were victims. Fabrizio Corona has become the outlet valve for all of the reporting on these issues, and the reactions to the claims have been to try and bury them in legal challenges. There's no 1A in italy after all, and defamation can get you jail time if you push hard enough on stories. No challenge to the actual content of the claims, just constant pushback and ignoring data being provided.

Since then, the courts are censoring him all over the place, and he's been apparently talking to people close to Trump as well. So much so that he's considering leaving Italy entirely and meeting with "my friend, Trump" according to la Republica: https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/people/2026/01/27/news/fabrizio_corona_trump_signorini_claudio_lippi-425120663/ (just use Google translate in chrome, it's good enough)

The Italian players & potential victims

Basically all Italian media (which I get to watch via my wife and her own vpn) has serious bad actors:

Key players

• Signorini - started the affair, and was forced to resign while the case is in court

• Maria di Filipi - possibly the most famous presenter in italy. Runs shows like amici (music talent show), and uomini e donne (dating show which just seems to be an Italian shouting match), and it looks like she gets contestants for each thrown out if she doesn't like em. She also seems to be a lesbian stuck in the closet, according to Corona at least.

• Pier Silvio Berlusconi - there was beef between their father, and they've carried it around for one another now. Pier has basically full control of mediaset

• María Belén Rodriguez - corona's ex and a former mediaset presenter. She was big in italy, until she apparently got on Maria di Filipi's bad side. Now she is struggling to find work in Italian media, even on rai.

• Barbara D'Urso - as big as Maria is, Barbara was. The two had special contracts with guests preventing them from discussing anything about the other's shows. After papa Berlusconi died, Barbara was forced out of mediaset and relegated to the Italian's verison of dances with the stars. Her presence after 2011 on Italian media drops drastically.

Italy, Epstein and my own theories

Now I'm convinced italy has cabalite issues, mostly due to the mafia and some elements of culture there. However, there are serious problems in their media amongst other sectors. Corona calls it the "price of success" if memory serves and my translation is accurate. Basically sex.

Honestly? From what my wife's told me of her own experiences as a student there, I believe it. If you ain't either a teachers pet or one of their "darlings" (or worse if you are a woman), you can't succeed. Their education basically pits kids against one another at a scale reserved for the PhD acquisition system in England. She's got stories man...

Anyway, given it's prevalence in their education, I expect their media sector is even worse. Stories Corona tells feel like tip of the iceberg material. Maria di Filipi, Signorini and others took to trading sex for favours with colleagues and contestants on their shows.

For your own perusal, see it from the source

https://youtube.com/@officialfabriziocorona?si=YQClhQHBTh2NZwA8 this is the man's YouTube channel. He has been dropping truth bombs the Italian media cannot take and must do all they can to silence it instead.

Turn on English subtitles and you get "good enough" understanding of what's happening. His style is unique to say the least - slow soft speaking followed by shouting loudly in italian, bouncing icons in his ands, all sorts of madness that makes him both entertaining and informative.