This blog post is a legal analysis of new legislation in Hungary that uses facial recognition technology in a manner that violates the EU Artificial Intelligence Act.

Following the Prime Minister’s statement concerning the banning of the annual Pride, MPs of the governing majority submitted a set of amendments to the Fundamental Law (Hungary’s constitution) on 11 March to create a constitutional-level basis for such action. On 18 March, another bill was submitted by MPs of the governing majority amending laws to ban assemblies that might breach the “substantial element of the prohibition” prescribed in the infamous anti-LGBTQI Propaganda-Law and impose harsh financial penalties for participants of such events. The bill was forced through Parliament within a day and will enter into force on 15 April 2025.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, together with three other human rights organisations – Data Rights France working at the EU level, the Greek organisation Homo Digitalis, and the Spanish (Catalan) organisation Irídia – has intervened in the case of Brejza v. Poland, currently before the European Court of Human Rights. These organisations are connected by the fact that they all operate in countries where the Pegasus spyware has been misused to surveil political opponents, journalists, and human rights defenders. Their intervention aims to present the Court with the serious human rights consequences of spyware abuse and to assist in establishing appropriate legal standards.

For the sixth year in a row, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is contributing to the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report in coordination with other Hungarian human rights and anti-corruption CSOs in the framework of the stakeholder consultation launched by the European Commission

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU, in Hungarian: TASZ) has been addressing data protection (GDPR) -based SLAPP issues for several years. GDPR based SLAPP cases are legal proceedings, where influential individuals try to stifle journalism with the misuse of data protection. We represent numerous affected editorial offices and actively participate in the dialogue on the anti-SLAPP directive at the European level. It is our primary aim to learn as much as possible about this new phenomenon, and to use this knowledge to facilitate meaningful dialogue between the relevant stakeholders.

For the fifth year in a row, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is contributing to the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report in coordination with other Hungarian human rights and anti-corruption CSOs.