72 Final Country Report
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Hungary and their Growing Disinformation Network
Eastern Europe has been an area of focus for the past century and especially because of the control the USSR has on many of the countries that were absorbed after World War II. Many of these countries have been in the news recently such as Ukraine due to Russia’s invasion but other countries that have been points of contention include Poland and Hungary. In particular, Hungary has been a focus because of their current political power that holds power and is led by their prime minister, Viktor Orbán. While starting to implement his authoritarian rule soon after winning their 2010 general election, he has continued to take away freedoms particularly more in the past years and during the pandemic. Due to Hungary’s severe loss of freedoms, and especially freedom of press in the past few years, disinformation has increased greatly, leading their citizens further away from the truth about themselves and the modern world around them.
Hungary has a rich history of how their country has changed over the years but one of the most major turning points in the past century would occur right after World War I. After they were defeated, Hungary lost 71 percent of its land due to the Treaty of Trianon, which effectively was signed concluding War World I (Berend, 2021). As Germany felt humiliated after the war, so did Hungary but they lacked the same power and resources. Before World War II, Hungary formed alliances with fascist Italy in 1927 and by 1941, joined forces with Germany to fight the Soviet Union. During this time, Hungarian Jews were sent off to concentration camps as well as other people who seemed “suspicious” (Swanson, 2008). After Germany was defeated in WWII, Hungary once again became vulnerable to invasion which occurred when the Soviet Union installed a communist party as their ruling political party. Conditions in Hungary continued to become worse which resulted in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Students in Budapest protested demanding better living conditions, but they failed, and a communist party reigned until the fall of the USSR in 1989. The first democratic election was in 1990 which was followed by them joining NATO in 1999 and then joining the EU in 2004 (Swanson, 2008). Since the fall of the Austria-Hungary empire, they have been suspectable to many powers as they have lost land and government control. This has been leading to Hungary yet again losing freedoms as the current political party, which is led by their prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has been taking away freedoms that will be further dived into. Orbán has been using points from their history such as the Treaty of Trianon, in his benefit to make the citizens feel as if they still are owed something due to their past; this has worked as an extremely powerful propaganda tactic in the past years (Berend 2021).
While Hungary has gained great freedom and become a democratic state since the fall and release of the USSR, in recent years, they have been declining in a wide variety of freedoms. This loss of freedom began back in 2010 when their current prime minister, Viktor Orbán was elected; losses of freedom include freedom of press, LGBTQ+ rights, and changes to their electoral college process that greatly benefits the current political party. Many different world media sources have been covering the loss of freedom in many years and how it is affecting the country, but the issue is still seeming to prevail and continue. In one article, it shows how one of the first freedoms to disappear in the past decade and under the current political leadership has been freedom of press (Kisbenedek, 2019). All mass media that is currently being shared with the citizens of Hungary is controlled by the government from TV broadcasting, to newspapers, and to the radio. While there is no total ban on private media outlets, they are currently greatly harassed as well as deemed illegitimate by the government, therefore making it seem as if they lack credibility in their information. Journalists are also banned from public information as is a key to press freedom in many parts of the world including the United States, where daily press briefings are held by institutions such as the White House (Kisbendek, 2019). Along with freedom of press being taking away, another major freedom that has been striped in recent years includes rights of the LGBTQ+ community. It started with a law that prevented schools from teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues in classrooms and was determined to be a violation of international human rights. Along with this, during Orbán’s campaign for reelection this past year, he stated that he wanted to bring back Christian ideals back into their schools and into the lives of their citizens. He did this by along with advocating, putting up billboards to propagate these ideas (Than, 2021). Lastly, a major change that came during the pandemic was a change to their electoral college system. The “emergency law” states that due to the pandemic, the current political party in power can remain in power indefinitely (Gehrke, 2020). With all of these rights being violated and taken away, it is no wonder why in the past few years, it has been determined that Hungary is rapidly losing freedom according to websites such as Freedom House and Reporters without Borders. From Freedom House, they ranked Hungary in 2021 partly free with a score of 69/100; the lower the score, the less freedom the country has (2022). From Reporters without Borders, they ranked Hungary 92/180 countries in 2021 and it has been declining every year since; in 2013, the were ranked 56/180 countries (2022). Based on these statistics, the question remains, how could this happen in Hungary and where do they go from here?
Looking at Hungary’s slipping of freedoms and rights the past few years; we have to wonder how did it get like this and why? As previously stated, this has only been an issue since Orbán was elected in 2010, but has there been any evidence for him being an authoritarian leader? The answer is yes, and it starts with Hungary’s relationship with Russia throughout their history. During most of Hungary’s recent history, they were under the control of the oppressive USSR and only had an escape for about twenty years between 1989 and 2010. When Orbán was elected in 2010, Russian president, Vladimir Putin saw an opportunity for new agreements between the two countries. While international agreements and sovereignty are a great thing, Russia has seen Hungary in more of a manipulative light. While Orbán and Putin differ greatly in their political beliefs, they both rule under an authoritarian law. Along with their similar styles of ruling, Russia has offered Hungary many economic benefits and agreements over the past few years. One of the main issues that Hungary has always faced is that since the Treaty of Trianon, they try to take opportunities that in the short-term seem beneficial but in the long-term end up hurting them more than any benefit could provide (Rácz, 2021). Looking at Hungary’s Hofstede insights, it can be seen that for their long-term orientation, they tend to be more short-term focused which means they are more pragmatic and willing to change things quickly to benefit themselves without much consideration for their past (2022). This shows why the Hungarian government acts in the way that they do and why they have created such a strong relationship with Russia.
On March 10thof 2022, there was some hope of freedom being able to return to Hungary with their general election and hopes of Orbán being replaced by the opposing political party (Gosling, 2022). Sadly, Orbán was not replaced and was reelected under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances. Before the election, it was known that other countries that are a part of the European Union have not been happy with the state of Hungary and the Hungarian government has recognized this as well. In the past, the EU has been viewed by some as creating too many rules and having too much control over different countries, but during the pandemic this proved wrong. The EU has been unable to keep up with the degrading status of freedoms in Hungary and it is wondered if there is anything at all that can be done. The EU is allowed to suspend certain rights that each country is given under the agreement but on the other hand, expelling a country is a much harder task where all members need to vote in agreement with the decision. This is currently not possible as well as by expelling Hungary, there would be many negative drawbacks, but it would also allow them to further become more of an authoritarian state (Serhan, 2020). One response from other EU countries ahead of the election was to focus on supporting the opposing political party that was running against Orbán. A main issue with this has been the response from prime minister Orbán. President Emanual Macron of France stated his support of the opposing party, mostly due to Hungary’s response of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as president Zelensky of Ukraine stating the same thing. This led to Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Peter Szijiarto, claiming that Ukraine has somehow been helping the Hungary’s opposing political party and interfering with their election; however, there was no evidence brought forward of this claim (Spike, 2022). This appears to be a classic case of a government using propaganda to try to devalue an election even before it begins in fear of losing their power. By then being able to publish false information as such in the Hungarian press and media, there can be no fact checking on the side of the Hungarian citizens due to their lack of resources and freedom. After this statement was made, president Zelensky stated that it is false (Spike, 2022). While this is the first time that Hungary has tried to delegitimize an election before it actually occurring, it is easy to see how this could continue in the future and cause more issues including further spreading of propaganda as well as further loss of freedoms.
This past semester, as we studied how information travels in our global network, Hungary can be seen to be using disinformation to misguide their citizens and more specifically, has been using distributed amplification as their main disinformation strategy. From the first loss of freedom, freedom of press, Hungary has been able to use this to easily share propaganda with their citizens without it being questioned from within. This has been a tactic used for hundreds of years and as one source I found states, “[n]obody has to reinvent the wheel to manipulate” (Krekó & Szicherle, 2021). It has been seen countless times throughout history, that once freedoms start to disappear, it is easy for the government to manipulate its citizens without them taking much notice. Going along with manipulation having occurred for quite some time, it is also easy when a country is on the tail end of having its country hurt in other ways. The Treaty of Trianon had major effects leading into World War II and still has an impact today on Hungarian citizens where they feel hurt by what could have been theirs. On top of this, Hungary having a very different culture from western Europe has allowed their government to speak against them and more in favor of eastern standards (Krekó & Szicherle, 2021). Hungary has been running multiple propaganda and disinformation campaigns to misinform their citizens for quite some time but what is interesting is to look directly into one of the media sources and see exactly what they are saying. This source is from their official website that gives information about their country. The title of this article is “Don’t let disinformation campaigns fool you, Hungary is welcoming ALL refugees,” with a sub-header that states “It wasn’t long before the first fake news reports appeared in international media trying to desperately paint us, once again as the bad guys” (Kovács, 2022). Based off of their rhetoric alone, it is very defensive and automatically raises a red flag. In the article, they try to defend their country and make it seem like everyone else on the international stage is to blame. While it has been seen that Hungary has been letting in Ukraine refugees, it seems odd that they would publish a defensive article the day they let started letting in refugees; note, they were under fire before for not letting in refugees and refusing to allow in Syrian refugees back in 2016. They will continue to publish information that makes them look good in a particular light and use it to further manipulate their citizens.
With all of the presented information, it leaves many questions but in particular two: where will Hungary be in the future and how can these problems be solved? For the first question, it can only be assumed that based on their current trajectory, they will continue to lose freedoms and spread disinformation to their citizens through mass propaganda campaigns. Freedoms that could be potentially occur would be a complete ban on all press and even further to restricting freedom of speech against the current political party in power as seen in other countries that have headed down the same route. The next question is how can these problems be solved? There are a couple options that stick out but the first one would be the European Union or NATO imposing serious sanctions to try to pressure the current political party to bring back freedoms that have been lost. The next option is for Orbán to elected out of office in the coming years and a new political leader bringing back freedom that were lost and will most likely continue to be lost. My last thought is that if Hungary gets to a point where the conditions become as bad as they were in the middle of this past century, another Hungarian revolution could occur as it did in 1956. Granted, that is a more extreme hypothetical of what could happen but based on actions currently being taken on a global scale, something drastic does need to occur in order for there to be change. Hungary’s current state is also something that needs to be considered from citizens of other countries as to learn how to be cautious of information and how to learn to protect their freedoms from being taken away in the future.
References
Berend, I. T. (2021, July 14). Hungary. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Hungary
Swanson, John C. (2008). Hungary. Oxford Reference. https://www-oxfordreference-com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-729?rskey=d7UGqb&result=2)%20and%20The%20Oxford%20Companion%20to%20Politics%20of%20the%20World%20(2%20ed.)%20(https://www-oxfordreference-com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195117394.001.0001/acref-9780195117394-e-0332?rskey=d7UGqb&result=13
Gehrke, Laurenz. (2020, May 6). Hungary no longer a democracy, Freedom House says. Politico.https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/06/hungary-no-longer-a-democracy-report-239807
Kisbenedek, Attila. (2019, March 12). News report: Hungary dismantles media freedom and pluralism. European Federation of Journalists. https://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2019/12/03/new-report-hungary-dismantles-media-freedom-and-pluralism/
Than, Krisztina. (2021, December 14).Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ law breaches international rights standards – European rights body. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungarys-anti-lgbtq-law-breaches-international-rights-standards-european-rights-2021-12-14/
(2022).Freedom in the World 2022.Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/country/hungary/freedom-world/2022
(2022).Hungary: EU’s alternative, repressive model. Reporters without Borders. https://rsf.org/en/hungary
Rácz, András. (2021, October 22). Authoritarian Ties: The Case of Russia and Hungary. Wilson Center. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/authoritarian-ties-case-russia-and-hungary
(2022).What about Hungary? Hofstede Insights. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/hungary/
Serhan, Yasmeen. (2020, April 2). The EU Watches as Hungary Kills Democracy. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/04/europe-hungary-viktor-orban-coronavirus-covid19-democracy/609313/
Spike, Justin. (2022, March 30). Hungary accuses Ukraine of interfering in upcoming election. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-business-europe-peter-szijjarto-3fb4684dc028688c3cd544ee661d7e43
Gosling, Tim. (2022, April 2). Hungary set to vote in key general election. Aljazeera.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/2/hungary-prime-minister-orban-election
Krekó/Szicherle, Péter/Patrik. (2021, June 7). Disinformation in Hungary: From fabricated news to discriminatory legislation. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union.
https://eu.boell.org/en/2021/06/07/disinformation-hungary-fabricated-news-discriminatory-legislation
Kovács, Zoltán. (2022, March 3). Don’t let disinformation campaigns fool you, Hungary is welcoming ALL refugees. About Hungary. https://abouthungary.hu/blog/dont-let-disinformation-campaigns-fool-you-hungary-is-welcoming-all-refugees