Recent findings from the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) reveal how political advertising in Hungary is shaped largely by its dominant political forces, especially on social media. The ruling powers’ narratives dominate in the media and during election cycles with regulators either ineffective or unwilling to level the playing field. As a result, state power over political advertising is mostly unchecked.
Landslide Victories in 2024 -- But That’s Nothing New
In 2024, Hungary’s right-wing coalition government maintained a commanding victory over opposition campaigns in both the municipal and European Parliamentary elections, echoing similar results from each election since 2010. Throughout this period of ruling party dominance, the left-liberal-green coalition has been fragmented and underfunded. This imbalance has provoked questions about election fairness, especially given the relaxed rules around campaign finance.
Facebook: The New Frontier For State Messaging
In recent elections, but especially in 2024, Facebook has become a primary resource for online campaigns and politicians to reach broad audiences of citizens. Opposition parties especially focus their efforts on Facebook, because their lack of resources prevents them from messaging through traditional avenues.
Yet, ruling powers have found far greater success through their Facebook ad campaigns than the opposition, as demonstrated by the massive reach of their ads. These ruling party ads focused on messages about war and peace in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine, echoing their strategy in traditional media. The immense wealth of resources available to Orbán and his coalition ensured that opposition ads were effectively drowned out by the tsunami of pro-government messaging.
Opacity and Resource Imbalance: Hindering Democracy?
Critics of the current legislative framework around campaign finance and ad spending contend that the status quo almost entirely favours and benefits the ruling party, and actively prevents any opposition campaigns from gaining meaningful ground with voters. This is achieved through intentionally opaque ad funding operations, as well as the complete lack of spending caps for European Parliament and municipal elections. Naturally, this system boosts whichever campaign draws the most funding, not necessarily the candidates who appeal most to voters.
Building Fair Elections Hereafter
As political power has become more centralized and expanded in the hands of the ruling party, the need for election regulation is evident. To improve Hungary’s election environment so that it better reflects democratic values, the HCLU recommends the introduction of spending caps for all political campaigns and transparency in political funding. Any reform short of this, and Hungary’s elections will likely remain asymmetrical into the future. This jeopardises its democracy’s health and undermines citizens’ ability to progress the causes they care about.
About The Research Project
This research paper by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) was prepared as a contribution to the project ‘Electoral Integrity and Political Microtargeting: An Evidence-Based Analysis in Six EU Member States’, coordinated by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties). The research project monitored online political advertising in the run-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections in six EU countries: Bulgaria (BHC), France (VoxPublic), Germany (Reset Tech), Hungary (HCLU), Poland (PAF) and Spain (Xnet), supported by Who Targets Me (WTM) as technical partner. The project relied primarily on data collected during the European Parliamentary elections campaign from political advertisements promoted on Facebook by political entities. Researchers scrutinised whether political actors follow national campaigning rules and European data protection rules by examining data voluntarily donated by citizens through a privacy-friendly desktop browser extension. The project was co-funded by Civitates and the Open Society Foundations.
Resources
HCLU’s research brief (English, short version)
In Conversation with HCLU, Hungary | Election Monitoring Talks
More resources from the Project
Who tries to influence your vote on Facebook?
Bulgaria’s 2024 EP Elections: From Problematic Targeting Techniques to Regulatory Gaps
