00:00How a Russian Disinformation Unit Targeted Hungary's Election
00:08A wave of false claims targeting Hungary's incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar spread
00:13online in the run-up to the country's election. Researchers say they were part of a Russian
00:18disinformation campaign, such as this post circulating on X, which falsely claimed that
00:23Magyar planned to reintroduce mandatory military conscription. It alleges he wanted to force
00:28thousands of young men to join the army. But there's no evidence to support these claims.
00:34In fact, Magyar's teaser party manifesto explicitly ruled out bringing back conscription, both
00:40after the election and at any point in the future. It also ruled out sending Hungarian
00:45troops to Ukraine while supporting increased military spending. Researchers linked this
00:49false claim to a Russian disinformation network called Storm 1516. This group has long been
00:55identified as interfering in electoral campaigns, including in the US and Europe.
01:00In Hungary, they used familiar tactics, including fake videos impersonating news outlets, false
01:06websites and coordinated social media posts. In one case, a fake Euronews report falsely
01:12claimed Magyar had insulted Donald Trump. Some of these claims were promoted through paid
01:17Facebook advertising. Two Facebook ads repeating the fake conscription claim reached more than
01:2220,000 users in Hungary, the majority over the age of 50. They were posted by a page posing
01:28as a beauty salon, with no evidence that this company existed. Despite many of these claims
01:33targeting him, Magyar went on to win this weekend's election. But researchers warned that operations
01:39like Storm 1516 are not just designed to influence election outcomes, but to undermine trust and
01:45so confusion.
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