Overview
- The Financial Times reported, citing a planning document and sources, that the Social Design Agency drew up a Kremlin-approved campaign to aid Fidesz and damage Péter Magyar ahead of the April 12 election.
- The proposal promotes Viktor Orbán as a defender of sovereignty with global ties and portrays Magyar as a Brussels puppet, calling for information attacks against him and his party.
- FT said the effort would conceal Russian involvement by working through Hungarian influencers and content posing as local, after identifying dozens of pro-government and opposition figures to amplify it.
- Magyar alleged the imminent push will use 14 AI-generated videos disseminated by paid fake accounts on TikTok and urged Orbán to stop the plan and expel Russian agents.
- The Kremlin and the Hungarian government denied any interference, and the agency named by FT is already under Western sanctions and was accused by the U.S. Justice Department in 2024 of running the 'Doppelgänger' operation.