Hungarian Opposition Leader Péter Magyar Files Complaint over AI-Generated Fake Video Shared by Orbán’s Advisor
A major political scandal erupted in Hungary this week after a deepfake video falsely depicting opposition leader Péter Magyar calling for pension cuts went viral on Facebook. The clip, which appeared on Balázs Orbán’s official page — a top advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and head of Fidesz’s election campaign — showed Magyar standing at a podium marked “Pension Reductions,” allegedly arguing that pensions were “too generous.”
In reality, the video was entirely fabricated using artificial intelligence, with Magyar’s likeness and voice digitally generated to deliver statements he never made. Experts quickly identified the footage as fake, citing poor quality and mismatched audio. However, observers warned that casual social media users could easily be misled, remembering only the association between “Péter Magyar” and “cutting pensions.”
Analysts say this incident marks another escalation in Hungary’s increasingly aggressive political disinformation tactics. It follows a growing wave of AI-generated videos and images circulating online, portraying Magyar in humiliating or dehumanizing ways — from being shown as a chained dog belonging to Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, to mocking football scenes where Viktor Orbán scores against an AI-generated Magyar.
In a statement released Tuesday, Péter Magyar condemned the video as “an open act of electoral fraud” and announced that he had filed a criminal complaint against Balázs Orbán. “Everyone can now see that Viktor Orbán and his accomplices lie, falsify, and incite without restraint,” Magyar said. He urged all political parties and media outlets to denounce the manipulation, adding, “Falsification is one of the stages of denying reality.”
Magyar accused the ruling party of producing fake videos using public funds and fabricating quotes attributed to members of his TISZA Party. He pledged never to use such methods, stating, “We will not put false words in the mouths of others — it is enough to recall their real ones.”
The opposition leader directly challenged the prime minister, saying, “Step out from behind the machine. Step out from behind the skirts of women. Be a man and face the people.” Magyar called for a public debate, claiming Orbán hides behind “AI-generated forgeries, propagandists, and digital warriors.”
Political scientist Gábor Török described the incident as “a new level of lying in politics,” distinguishing it from past scandals by noting that these fabrications falsely attribute intentions rather than merely distort facts.
Even parties far from Magyar’s ideological camp — including the Two-Tailed Dog Party, the far-right Mi Hazánk Movement, and the left-wing Democratic Coalition — criticized the AI-generated videos. A spokesperson for the satirical Two-Tailed Dog Party commented, “These AI videos completely lack any element of reality — and they are not even funny.”
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