Hungary’s Propaganda Campaign

Viktor Orbán is carpet-bombing the countryside with anti-EU messaging

15 December 2022

Dorka Takacsy

Marcin Król Fellow

At a time when inflation is skyrocketing and food security is greatly threatened, the government in Budapest is using its unofficial campaign mechanism to place all the blame on Brussels, and it’s working.

In October, the Hungarian government launched a so-called “national consultation” about the sanctions against Russia, and it was accompanied by a robust propaganda campaign depicting the sanctions as bombs. The campaign runs until 15 December, and the first results on its impact are already available.

While one can easily disregard the consultation sheet in the mailbox, the effects of the robust ad campaign accompanying it are much more difficult to ignore.

Permanent Campaign

“National consultation” is a tool introduced by the Fidesz-KDNP government in 2015. The current one is the 8th in a row, hence, the government is permanently campaigning independently from elections, let alone electoral campaign laws.

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Dorka Takacsy

Marcin Król Fellow

Marcin Król Fellow 2022/2023 at Visegrad Insight and a researcher passionate about politics in Russia and the CEE region. She pursues her PhD studies at the Corvinus University of Budapest, contemplating the broader topic of Russian domestic disinformation about the West. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy (CEID), focusing on disinformation.

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