criticized by journalists and researchers for publishing fake news. According to critics, Origo is a vehicle for government propaganda and a major recipient of government advertising. Gábor Polyák, head of Hungarian watchdog Mérték Media Monitor, described Origo as “an emblematic player of the Fidesz propaganda media”, which spreads “thousands of pieces of news about migrants in an extremely negative context [that is] accompanied by false videos and photos”. According to Politico, Origo has repeatedly been found guilty by judges of incorrectly portraying facts about government critics. In response, Google subsequently withdrew the grant given to the New Wave Media group (Ibid). In the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of measures in the battle against the spread of misinformation regarding the coronavirus that include jail time of up to five years. Since the introduction of the new measures, several people have been arrested for spreading false information or for “obstructing” the prevention of coronavirus (Kaszas 2020). Most of the people detained have been relesed and many of the cases dropped (Mertek 2020). However, the measures were also significant in that they gave new powers to the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to rule by decree under a state of emergency, with no clear limits (Walker & Rankin, 2020). At the same time, the Hungarian government was also involved in spreading obviously misleading information about the causes of the virus, claiming that illegal migration is the main driver (Kreko & Szicherle, 2020). References Aries, Q. 2019. Europe’s Failure to Protect Liberty in Hungary. The Atlantic.https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/12/eu-hungary-pressfreedom/603985/. Attila, B. 2019. The government of Hungary spent €216 million on propaganda and fearmongering in the past 8 years. Atlatszo. https://english.atlatszo.hu/2019/01/11/the-government-of-hungaryspent-e216-million-on-propaganda-and-fearmongering-in-the-past-8-years/. Bayer, L. 2019. Google pulls grant to Hungarian publisher over fake news allegations. Politico. https://www.politico.eu/article/google-withdraws-grant-to-hungary- news-site-over- fake-newsanti-semitism/. BBC News. 2019. EU blasts Hungary ‘fake news’ on migrants. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47294183. Besser, L. 2019. Hungary's Viktor Orbán has attempted to dissolve Europe's values — but Brussels is fighting back. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05- 27/insidethe-illiberal-hungary-of-viktor-Orbán/11151500. Freedom on the Net. 2019. Hungary. Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/country/hungary/freedom-net/2019#footnote17_inypy4h. Freedom House. 2020. Hungary. Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/country/hungary/freedom-world/2020 Gajdos, R. 2019. We need a Fact-Checking Website in Hungary and Here’s Why. Center for Media, Data and Society. https://cmds.ceu.edu/we-need-fact-checking-website- hungaryand-heres-why Graham-Harrison, E., & Walker, S. 2019. Hungary: the crucible for faulty efforts by Facebook to banish fake news. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/18/hungary-crucible-facebook- attemptbanish-fake-news. Gyori, L., & Syrovatka, J. 2019. Russian propaganda in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Security and Human Rights Monitor. https://www.shrmonitor.org/russianpropaganda- in-the-czech-republic- slovakia-and-hungary/ 174