Facebook has come under scrutiny for allegedly interfering in Hungary’s upcoming elections, reportedly restricting posts from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán while amplifying opposition figures.
Elon Musk–associated influencer Mario Nawfal reported that Péter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza Party, is achieving significant engagement on Facebook despite communicating in Hungarian to a limited audience and in apparent violation of Meta’s own guidelines, using a “personal ‘professional mode’ profile rather than a political page.”
Nawfal highlighted that the platform seems to be applying a double standard: while Prime Minister Orbán’s content is restricted, opposition activity is visibly boosted.
“If Hungary’s largest social platform restricts Orbán’s content while opposition accounts seem inflated before the election, serious questions arise about free speech and democratic integrity.” he wrote on X.
He added that the involvement of a regional Meta official who has publicly expressed pro-Ukraine and anti-government positions reinforces suspicions of political intervention in the Hungarian electoral process.
Macroeconomist Philip Pilkington, Senior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, commented on X, stating: “It looks like Meta hasn’t stopped interfering in elections despite Mark Zuckerberg saying that the company won’t do it again. You can see in this chart that Facebook is boosting Péter Magyar artificially. Now they are moving to restrict Viktor Orbán’s posts.”
Pilkington also identified Oskar Braszczyński, Meta’s Government & Social Impact Partner for Central and Eastern Europe, as the employee overseeing content moderation in the region. “The guy who is suppressing Viktor Orbán’s social media has been leaked,” Pilkington wrote.
“From his publicly available Facebook profile it appears that he is a Ukraine fanatic and an LGBT activist. He has symbols on his profile showing that he is an opponent of the Polish Law and Justice party. Note that Law and Justice were a close ally of the Hungarian government when they were in power.”
“Facebook is supposed to be a neutral platform, but the guy in control over the CEE region is clearly highly politicised.” he added.
Given Braszczyński’s official role, these public political positions cannot be dismissed as personal opinion but call into question the extent to which Meta can claim genuine institutional neutrality when a senior employee openly takes a political stance.
