by Zoltán Ready, former Hungarian MP, now editor EU Tech Loop
It’s published
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and in no way represent the editorial position of Euroneus.
With the EU’s new political advertising regulations that came into effect in October 2025, Meta and Google’s platform have chosen to halt political and social advertising across Europe.
Although EU regulations on transparency and targeting for political advertising (TTPA) are designed to ensure a more equitable and transparent media and advertising environment, they may offer unexpected benefits to illegal regimes that control traditional media, state resources, and organizations disguised as civil society groups.
Hungary example
In Hungary, for example, Prime Minister Victor Orban’s party, Fides, has a broad media empire, with great control over regional coverage and strengthening its own narrative through political networks disguised as civil society organisations.
The future absence of paid online advertising is not a disadvantage, but an opportunity for the Fidesz party. It limits one of the opposition’s main paths of action, whilst spreading the government’s narrative unconfirmed, amplifying messages and allowing them to dominate social media platforms through proxies.
The upcoming 2026 Hungarian elections could be a tough test of this dilemma. The cancellation of paid political ads applies in theory to all political actors, but places the opposition (which relies more on independent social media platforms than anyone else) in a more difficult position.
Fides may mobilize organisations disguised as civil society groups with an extensive network of organic advocates and newspapers, finding loopholes to avoid the ban. These channels easily influence rural public opinion, spreading organically disguised content on social media, and continually strengthening the government’s narrative.
Unintended consequences
In conclusion, changes to paid political advertising in the EU can create conditions where political competition is distorted rather than balanced, giving authoritarian regimes a blank check to further strengthen the narrative.
This article was originally published in the EU Tech Loop and was published on EuroNews as part of the agreement.