{"id":166462,"date":"2026-03-18T14:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T13:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/?p=166462"},"modified":"2026-03-20T17:05:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:05:45","slug":"facebook-bedriver-valpaverkan-censurerar-orban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/facebook-bedriver-valpaverkan-censurerar-orban\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook influences elections - Censors Orb\u00e1n"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Just weeks before the Hungarian elections, Meta is reported to have started restricting the speeches of Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, a move that has been strongly criticized as an attempt to influence the elections.<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to information <strong>Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>s posts on Facebook started to be throttled after an organized campaign of mass reporting of his content, reports <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hungarianconservative.com\/articles\/current\/facebook-meta-censorship-orban-hungary-election-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hungarian Conservative<\/a><\/strong>. The initiative is linked to people within the opposition Tisza party, where a former Meta employee is said to have encouraged this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is not a one-off event - it is a targeted effort that coincides with the most intense part of the election campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>At the same time, the opposition is lifted<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, there are reports of unusually high turnout for the opposition's pro-EU leader <strong>P\u00e9ter Magyar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His posts reach far more people than is considered normal, despite Hungary being a small country with a limited language area. This raises questions about why some accounts are getting a much wider reach while others are being restricted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a high-profile post on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarioNawfal\/status\/2034208233015914824\">X<\/a><\/strong> writes the commentator <strong>Mario Nawfal<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201dAs Hungary heads towards a crucial election in April, Facebook is reportedly restricting posts from the country's prime minister.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201dIf Hungary's largest social platform continues to restrict Orb\u00e1n's content while the opposition's accounts appear inflated, serious questions arise about freedom of expression and the integrity of democracy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddfa EXCLUSIVE BREAKING: FACEBOOK RESTRICTS ORB\u00c1N POSTS WEEKS BEFORE HUNGARY'S ELECTION<br><br>As Hungary heads toward a crucial April election, Facebook is reportedly restricting posts from the country's Prime Minister.<br><br>The move followed a call by an opposition party (Tisza Party)... <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WXgVOJpQKx\">pic.twitter.com\/WXgVOJpQKx<\/a><\/p>- Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarioNawfal\/status\/2034208233015914824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Connections outside Hungary<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, attention is being drawn to people within Meta working on content in the region. According to reports, a responsible official has expressed clear political views, including support for Ukraine and criticism of the Hungarian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This raises questions about who actually controls the messages that reach voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the commentator <strong>Philip Pilkington<\/strong> it should be a Polish man named <strong>Oskar Braszczy\u0144ski<\/strong>, Facebook owner Meta's head of government and public affairs in Central and Eastern Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is said to have links to the Hungarian opposition, as well as being a staunch supporter of Ukraine and the LGBT movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 BREAKING: The guy who is suppressing <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PM_ViktorOrban?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@PM_ViktorOrban<\/a>'s social media has been leaked. His name is Oskar Braszczy\u0144ski and he is Meta's Government &amp; Social Impact Partner for Central and Eastern Europe. Let's have a look at who is putting their thumb on the scale!<br><br>\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddfa Oskar has... <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PskLJuazGP\">pic.twitter.com\/PskLJuazGP<\/a><\/p>- Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/philippilk\/status\/2034221535490109940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In the middle of a crucial election<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The restrictions come as the EU has activated a system to monitor online content ahead of the elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The combination of cutting off a sitting prime minister's speech, while the opposition's message is widely disseminated, is now described by critics as a serious interference in the election campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The question now being asked in Hungary is simple: can an election be considered free when the flow of information is controlled in this way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook is said to be throttling Orb\u00e1n's pre-election posts - while highlighting the opposition. Criticism is growing that the election is being influenced behind the scenes<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":156044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[207,1522,205],"tags":[149,192,859,3315],"class_list":["post-166462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-utrikes","category-mellan","category-nyheter","tag-facebook","tag-ungern","tag-valpaverkan","tag-viktor-orban-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}