"Billions of taxpayers' money are spent on disinformation and propaganda": for Viktor Orban and his party, polarization, demonization and slander are the most powerful weapons against opponents.
One of the latest videos that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban shared on Facebook speaks clearly about the level of public debate in the country. Under the title "The main producers of fake news" The faces of 22 journalists from the Hungarian media are shown.
This is not new - it is not the first time that Orban has published lists of individuals or media that he does not like, but the tone is becoming increasingly harsh, although the next parliamentary elections are more than six months away.
The tone is becoming increasingly aggressive
Recently, the public was shocked by the suicide of the police chief in the southern Hungarian town of Hódmezővásárhely. In the days before this, he became the subject of vicious attacks by a local newspaper close to Orban's party after it had given permission for an event critical of the government. Calls for violence were also made during the event. It is not known to what extent the tragic death is related to the attacks - but it fits into the general landscape in a country where political debate is heating up.
"We have long seen that public discourse is becoming more aggressive: politics constantly points to enemies, dehumanizes entire groups and floods the public with propaganda messages financed with taxpayers' money," lawyer Gabor Polyak told DW.
Orbán's government has given billions to propaganda
The tension in public debate caused at least 50,000 people to protest in Budapest. Under the slogan "Air! For free public space and clean public debate" the theater group Loupe called for a non-partisan demonstration. Actress Edina Potiondi warned that the government is controlling public debate with the "poison of propaganda". The reason for the gathering is dissatisfaction with government posters, which for more than ten years have been inciting against various "enemies" - from refugees to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Billions of taxpayers' money are being spent on disinformation and propaganda. Our idea was to do something about these posters," actor Tamás Lengyal explained to DW. So far, over 200,000 signatures have been collected in support of the appeal, and an initiative for a referendum to ban hateful messages in public space has been created. The Hungarian Central Election Commission's decision on the referendum is now awaited.
Cult of personality online and offline
Just a day before the demonstration, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán issued another warning against Hungary's enemies at an unofficial election event. He said there were parties, NGOs and media that were "just waiting to implement Brussels' instructions". They were responsible for the aggressions and smear campaigns against "Christian and national artists, media and parties".
At the same event, Orbán took a selfie with the author of a right-wing extremist blog in which opposition leader Péter Magyar was constantly called "a scumbag". Magyar's party "Tisza" has, according to polls, a good chance of winning the next parliamentary elections, which is why he is also in the crosshairs of the "Fidesz" media apparatus.
"Don Veto" and the power of influencers
Part of this apparatus are bloggers and influencers close to the government, to whom the prime minister has been a regular guest for months. One of them is rapper László Pittinger, who affectionately calls the prime minister "Don Veto" - a combination of the Hungarian policy of blocking EU decisions and the name of mafia boss Don Vito Corleone from "The Godfather".
The fact that the prime minister often appears in person in this type of format is a novelty in this election campaign, says expert Gábor Polyak. "But anyone who thinks that "Fidesz" "There's still a lot to catch up on in the digital space, it doesn't know reality," he explains. A study by the Hungarian think tank Political Capital shows that from January to August, the country spent around 5.6 million euros on political advertising on Facebook alone, 85 percent of the amount by government insiders.
Crushing media control
In the so-called traditional media, the advantage of "Fidesz" is even more scandalous: the state-owned media outlet MTVA alone received around 80 billion forints (around 205 million euros) in public money in the first six months of the year. A number of private news portals and regional newspapers are firmly in the hands of companies close to the ruling party, and the most important state supervisory body - the Media Council - is made up of party comrades.
"Reporters Without Borders" speaks of "political, economic and regulatory pressure" on free media. In the press freedom index, Hungary is currently ranked 68th out of 180 countries. When Orbán entered his second term in 2010 after four years in opposition, the country was still in 23rd place.
The escalation is expected to continue
Due to the balance of media power and the hardened fronts, there is no sign of a calming of the public debate in the foreseeable future. Gábor Polyak believes that the main responsibility for this lies with the ruling party, which has made constantly escalating rhetoric its essence. "We have been living in a permanent election struggle for ten years, the party simply cannot function otherwise."
Therefore, Polyak predicts a further escalation of the tone in the months leading up to the spring of 2026, when the elections will be held: "It will be a very noisy, aggressive and brutal time."