Brussels is channeling funds into Hungarian media outlets associated with the global leftist Soros network. Most recently, Magyar Jeti Zrt., the publisher of 444.hu, received €318,172 (over HUF 120 million) from the European Commission as part of the media project “The Eastern Frontier Initiative” (TEFI).
According to Hungary’s Office for the Protection of Sovereignty, the TEFI project includes Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Slovakia’s Sme, the Dutch Bellingcat, and Romania’s PressOne—all linked to George Soros.
The consortium regularly produces content in cooperation with Globsec, a European Union strategy think tank, distributing materials in schools and universities. Reports claim that the content often pushes manipulative narratives and disinformation aligned with left-liberal agendas.
In addition to TEFI, the Commission supported the Hungarian Digital Media Observatory (HDMO), a project presented as “anti-disinformation” work, which runs from October 2025 to March 2028 with a €1.3 million budget. Several organizations involved in the project—including Political Capital, Mérték Media Monitor, Idea Foundation, Lakmusz, and AFP—are considered opposition-aligned. The EU has already supported a similar fact-checking initiative from 2023 to 2025 with €1.44 million.
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has criticized the European Commission for its opaque handling of NGO and media grants. Between 2021 and 2023, the Commission distributed over €7.4 billion to NGOs, many engaged in ideological advocacy on issues such as climate and gender identity. The auditors warned that the flow of public money “remains confusing, fragmented, and, in some cases, inaccessible to the average European citizen.”
