Is the internet free in Hungary?

In addition to the recent report, there are further news about Hungary’s reputation concerning the online freedom of speech. American human rights organization Freedom House shared some thoughts about that on Tuesday on their website. They stated that more and more governments manipulate social media and persecute the opposition online, which means a huge threat to democracy. They have also examined Hungary among the examples.

As MTI reported, Freedom House concluded a study about 65 countries concerning the security of online rights, including Hungary, which was evaluated as a “free country” in this field.

The organization wrote that in Hungary, it is typical that the government manipulates people through public media and the censorship of online media undertaken by the authorities occurs at times.

The detailed report raises its voice against the marginalization of independent online news sites in the Hungarian market. Moreover, the new anti-terror law provides more power to the authorities to force the delivery of user data by private enterprises.

Freedom House, however, also emphasized, that the internet is still relatively free in Hungary, and the government does not block entire websites for political reasons, and, also, does not filter online content, as Napi.hu highlighted.

This year was the seventh in a row to witness the decrease of internet users’ freedom worldwide. According to the human rights organization, 30 of the examined countries have governments that constantly influence online communities in 2017. It increased by seven from last year’s 23.

These governments hire paid commenters or trolls, and they also apply automatic posts and fake news sites to spread information and opinions favorable for them.