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Hungarian Social Media Excels in Spreading Pro-Kremlin Narratives, Research Shows

While Russian-friendly Facebook posts appear in many different languages, the Disinformation Situation Centre has found that Hungarian social media is a standout in the international arena, at least when it comes to reporting on Russia’s Victory Day parade on May 9, writes fact-checing site Lakmusz.

According to the article, the most popular pro-Russian post was published in Hungarian, on the “Orosz Hírek” (Russian News) Facebook page, and that Hungarian posts were the most pro-Kremlin. A post about Vladimir Putin’s speech received more than 788,000 views and 5,035 shares.

The research showed that 7 out of the 10 most viral Hungarian-language posts about Victory Day pushed pro-Kremlin narratives.

Out of the 110 most shared posts on the topic, 36 contained pro-Russia narratives and were shared 50,000 times. Of these, 4 posts were in Hungarian, 4 in Spanish, 2 in Italian, 2 in Dutch and one each in German, French, and Czech.

Russian aggression was primarily justified in these posts by drawing parallels between Ukraine and Nazi Germany, while other posts claimed that the Russians were fighting “fascists.” [HVG]

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