Hungarian Politics

[Tamas]

So one news is that Orban just visited Trump and got full exemption from American sanctions on Russian oil.

A much graver news concerns internal politics. Peter Magyar's party (Tisza) launched a mobile app not too long ago to share news etc but also they wanted to utilise this to elect their MP candidates.

A week or so ago pro-government press broke the news that this app has been hacked and over 200 thousand people's personal data (name, address, date of birth) has been leaked. Several pro-government "media" started harassing people on the list. Not just public personas but regular people.

And today somebody launched a searchable online database with an interactive map (and it got reported and linked by all the major pro-government online news sites) so if you want to see who from your village/town registered on the Tisza app, you can do so.

In a semi-feudal system like Hungary this can have grave consequences for people. The poorer they are the less they can afford to be seen as anti-Fidesz by the local lord (mayor, employers).

And the election will be in April. Things will turn ugly.

I still can't wrap my head around how Hungary (well, Orban) managed to tie up every media outlet and make them wag their tails in unison.

It was two things: absolute majority, and insane amount of funds embezzled from EU grants.