When a video went viral appearing to show a Hungarian soldier's execution, its disturbing nature came as a shock to anyone who saw it. Ahead of pivotal Hungarian elections on Sunday 12 April, the AI-generated, fake clip was posted on the social media accounts of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party in February.
It tells the story of a young girl at a window yearning for her father's return home from war, and then the video cuts to him - blindfolded, bound by the hands, and then shot by his captors. The video targeted Orbán's election rival, Péter Magyar, who could unseat him after 16 years in office.
The Fidesz campaign has made unsubstantiated claims about the war in Ukraine and Magyar's intentions, at times using AI-generated videos like this, even though it makes clear the video is fake. The video is an AI video, but the war is really horrible, the video says. Péter Magyar doesn't want you to see this video. He doesn't want you to see what an irreversible tragedy it is to join a war.
Fidesz alleges that Magyar, from the centre-right party Tisza, will bring Russia's war against Ukraine to its doorstep if elected, even using pension money to support Ukraine and imposing forced conscription.
Such narratives have been widely rejected by Magyar and his party Tisza. In its manifesto, it pledges it will not send troops to Ukraine and does not plan to revive conscription. We asked ruling party Fidesz whether it had made the AI execution video and why it had posted it on to its social media channels, but the party has not responded to our questions.
In an interview with a journalist posted to Facebook, Támas Menczer, who is communications director of the Fidesz-KNDP alliance, responded to a question about the AI video saying he believed the greatest possible danger is that Hungarian people could die if Tisza wins, because Tisza supports the war, Tisza supports sending money. However, he did not comment on the video being made with AI.
Magyar has condemned the video stating that Fidesz crossed all limits, and called the video heartless manipulation. Zsófia Fülöp, a journalist at Hungary's only dedicated independent fact-checking website, Lakmusz, says while such narratives from the ruling party are not new, the use of generative AI is.
It is omnipresent in this campaign, especially in the communication of the ruling party and its media and proxies. They've used it before but now it's massive.
The strategy does not appear to have had much of an impact on voters, with Magyar leading in most opinion polls. According to recent surveys, Magyar is connecting with younger voters, particularly those aged 18-40, by portraying a more relatable image compared to Orbán, who has leveraged state resources to drown opposition narratives.
The election will ultimately determine if these disinformation tactics will continue to persist in Hungary's political landscape, signaling implications that extend beyond just the electoral battleground.
