Between Orwell and Kafka: Hungary tightens its grip on its media | Hungary

AAs European leaders furious over Viktor Orbán's unauthorized foreign policy adventures, the Hungarian far-right leader has stepped up his campaign against independent voices at home, increasing pressure on media and civil society groups that do not toe the government line.

The prime ministers' meetings in recent weeks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US presidential candidate Donald Trump have sparked controversy in diplomatic circles, further isolating Budapest at a time when Hungary officially holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In contrast, activities targeting independent journalists and watchdog groups in Hungary have attracted much less attention abroad. At the heart of this crackdown is the country's controversial new Office for the Protection of Sovereignty.

Headed by a figure close to the ruling Fidesz party and with the power to call on intelligence services without judicial oversight, the office was created by Orbns' government, ostensibly to monitor foreign influence.

But in practice, critics say, it is not an independent state body but a tool to put pressure on government critics.

“This is all so absurd that I would place it somewhere between Orwell and Kafka,” said Jörg Söder, executive director of Transparency International Hungary, one of the organizations being investigated by the sovereignty protection office.

In a European Union country, such a situation should absolutely not occur, Martin said in an interview in Budapest. The activities of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty violate freedom of speech and are unconstitutional, he added.

While the office's motivations remain unclear, many say there are signs that the Hungarian government, which has centralized power since Orbn returned to power 14 years ago, is trying to further limit the space available to independent groups.

The regime is hardening, so Orbn is not going in the direction of consolidation, but is visibly becoming more Putinistic, and more apparent from year to year, said Gnes Urbn, an academic and expert on the Hungarian media scene.

So far, the sovereignty protection office has said it is investigating two entities: Transparency International Hungary and tltsz, an investigative body known for its work in exposing allegations of government corruption.

In public reports, the office has also targeted numerous prominent media outlets, saying their journalism harms Hungary's national interest.

“This does not investigate the fact that public media is filled with Russian propaganda,” said Mr. Krpti, chairman of the board of Telex, one of Hungary’s leading independent media outlets, which was repeatedly mentioned in the sovereignty protection offices’ July disinformation report on narratives surrounding the war in Ukraine.

It does not investigate how much money social media influencers close to the government receive, what war messages they convey, or what kind of pro-Russian rhetoric they convey, he added.

In the report, media articles quoting figures such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Czech President Petr Pavel and US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman were labelled as Western disinformation narratives.

Among the targets of these reports are some of Hungary's most respected foreign policy experts, who have denounced the government's close ties to the Kremlin.

Pter Buda, a former Hungarian intelligence official mentioned in the report, said: “In such a fragile and complex international situation, giving incompetent propagandists the opportunity to suppress critical analysis, especially when they act in the interests of the party committing war aggression, risks causing a fatal escalation.”

The sovereignty protection office, headed by Tams Lnczi, did not respond to an interview request or detailed questions about its activities.

Talk on a sign Along with senior ruling party officials, Línczi warned in July of a grey zone of sovereignty in which organizations called themselves different things – media, civil society groups – are in reality bodies exerting political pressure.

In February, the European Commission announcement This is the first step in a legal action against Hungary over the law that created the Sovereignty Office. The US State Department has also criticized the office.

But the Hungarian government maintains it is a necessity. In an emailed statement, Balzs Orbn, the prime minister’s political director, said Hungary had faced increased threats in recent years and the office was a key part of the response.

The Office for the Protection of Sovereignty was established to investigate foreign interference in Hungarian internal affairs and to protect the country's sovereignty and the interests of Hungarian citizens. Although it is not a national security service or an investigative authority, the office improves transparency by collecting and publishing detailed reports on its findings, he said.

Such offices are essential in any democracy, and some countries already have similar institutions, he added.

The Hungarian government has promoted a narrative that media and civil society groups receive significant funding from abroad in a manner that lacks transparency and that this money distorts their work and negatively affects Hungarian society.

NGOs and independent media have dismissed the accusations as baseless, saying their funding is completely transparent.

Most of the subsidies put forward by the government and its allies are funded through open processes, from the EU budget or the US State Department, they say. It is not as if we are receiving money from North Korea or Russia, but from institutions in allied countries, or from the EU, Telexs Krpti said.

Some observers have warned that one of the main effects of setting up these sovereignty offices could be to sow confusion.

One of the key elements of this situation is to instill uncertainty and insecurity, and therefore fear, among civil society and media actors. This can lead to self-censorship, said Zsuzsanna Vgh, a program officer at the German Marshall Fund.

Urbn said the deterrent effect was particularly dangerous outside the capital.

I think it doesn't necessarily impact the larger organizations and the larger media outlets, but, for example, for smaller rural organizations, there can be that kind of effect, where they don't want to become the target of a national smear campaign, she said.

Hungarian Minister for European Affairs Jnos Bka said that the Office for the Protection of Hungarian Sovereignty enjoys full independence and fairly broad discretionary powers when it comes to carrying out its activities within the legal framework.

The independent office was in no way coordinated or connected to the Hungarian government, he said.

Additional reporting by Jennifer Rankin in Brussels