How the ultra-right used homophobic disinfo in Czech and Hungarian elections

When Zuzana Huszár, 29, returned home one evening in June 2024, after a long day of work at a queer safe space in Prague, Czech Republic, she found her partner agitated. Her partner, Tereza Misha, told her that she had been “shamed” on the streets and received “hateful comments” on her way back from work due to her queer appearance.  

Misha, 27, is one among the many from the LGBTI community who have experienced hate-motivated violence, including verbal, physical, and sexual attacks, which has increased from 11 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2023, according to the report published by the EU fundamental rights agency earlier this year.

“This growing phenomenon of anti-LGBT hate speech in Europe is a result of disinformation narratives against LGBT+ spread by conservative actors and exploited for political gains by the far-right,” said Katrin Hugendubel, advocacy director of ILGA-Europe, an LGBTI advocacy group.

Disinformation is defined as false or misleading content that is spread with an intention to deceive or secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm, according to the European Commission Guidance.

“It is an orchestrated attempt where local conservative groups work in unison with partners in neighbouring countries supported by funding or foreign influence to spread anti-LGBT disinformation,” Hugendubel said.

A three-month multilateral investigation in the Visegrad four (V4) countries of Central Europe — Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland — revealed ultraconservative actors, linked to governments, far-right political parties and secretly funded NGOs, are spreading anti-LGBTI disinformation narratives to influence elections and, these narratives are similar to Russian propaganda.

Aligned to official propaganda 

In the Czech Republic, a disinformation statement “Homosexuální manželství rozjede obchod s dětmi” (Homosexual marriage will start the trade-in children) was issued by Jana Jochová, chairperson of the conservative organisation Alliance Pro Rodinu (AliPro) or Alliance for Family, on a public broadcaster on 13 September 2021 — 24 days before the parliamentary elections held on 8 and 9 October, 2021.

According to a report by the Central European Digital Media Observatory (CEDMO), approximately 20 percent of Czechs believed the false narrative linking same-sex marriage to child trafficking.

About 10 days before the elections, AliPro ran a post on their official Facebook page stating that “by redefining marriage (between a man and a woman), we are saying first and foremost the roles of mum and dad are not important.”

These disinfo narratives were pushed right before the elections to start a discussion on “marriage equality”, confirmed Filip Milde, an activist from Jsme fér (We are Fair), an LGBTI group in the Czech Republic.

Milde pointed out that AliPro has been using these disinfo narratives as a mobilisation tool to delay the legalisation of same-sex marriage by spreading lies about the LGBTI community.

“These lies can often lead to a sentiment of hatred towards LGBT people, couples and families with children," he said.

With efforts continuing to date, in 2024, AliPro has prepared campaigns to influence members of the parliament to prevent the approval of marriage or partnership for same-sex couples.

A recent vote for the legalisation of same-sex marriage did not receive a full majority in the Czech parliament in February 2024.

Political Links

AliPro is associated with two political parties that are part of the ruling coalition in the Czech Republic. For example, the chairperson Jana Jochová is an assistant to MP Václav Kral of the current ruling right-wing political party Občanská demokratická party (ODS), while the vice-chairman of the AliPro Jan Gregor works at the ministry of justice.

Further, in 2022, the ministry of labour and social affairs stated that it had been cooperating with the Alliance for Family since March 2022.

AliPro was part of the working group on the Concept of Family Policy of the Ministry that is responsible for family policy initiatives.

When asked about current cooperation, a spokeswoman said that the ministry is no longer cooperating with the Alliance for the Family.

In addition to organising various events attended by politicians, its structures are intertwined with the Czech government, said Alex Alvarova, a Political Communication Expert from the Czech Republic.

“The fact that members of the conservative AliPro are directly connected to the current ruling political party and have a foot inside the Ministry of Justice indicates the potential scope of their influence on policy decisions regarding the LGBTI community," said Alvarova.

A similar pattern is seen in Hungary with the far-right governing coalition of Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) led by prime minister Viktor Orbán and his adjacent Alapjogokért Központ or Centre for Fundamental Rights (CFFR), which claims to be a civil society organisation, but which is spreading the same anti-LGBTI misinformation as the government.

The predominant disinformation narrative present in Hungarian Facebook posts from 2021 includes posts suggesting a correlation between sex education about LGBT+ matters and “paedophilia”.

These posts often refer to sex education in schools as “rainbow propaganda.” 

Recently, 29 advertisements with content drawing a correlation between ‘LGBT+ individuals and paedophiles’ blaming the opposition for not voting for the anti-trans and anti-gay, so-called child protection law were launched by Megafon, the pro-government media centre.

These ads were released in the four days following the resignation of the former president of Hungary in February 2024.

At least 10,525,000 HUF (€26,766) were spent on these ads which are still running and the amount is constantly increasing, the Budapest-based think-tank, Political Capital reported. 

Russian-Inspired Anti-LGBTI disinformation

In September 2021, false claims about same-sex marriage leading to child trafficking emerged in the Czech Republic, resembling earlier events in Russia.

A year ago in Russia, the ‘Reproductive Specialists’ case came to light in July 2020, where doctors were accused of trafficking children born to surrogate mothers.

By 2021, the head of Rosyurconsulting, a company which arranged surrogacy programmes, claimed non-heterosexual individuals were part of this investigation, aiming to support new laws and stir negative public opinion.

This led to the LGBTI community in Russia becoming a strategic target for state propaganda where the state-controlled channel NTV significantly increased its broadcast of videos purporting the trafficking of babies to same-sex couples in Belgium.

In the same year, the popular Russian newspaper Argumenty echoed this sentiment, claiming homosexuals were involved in child trafficking in the US.

In February 2023 in Hungary, some narratives falsely linked sex education for children with LGBTI propaganda and paedophilia thereby destroying traditional family values.

Four months ago, in October 2022 in Russia, ultraconservative and US-sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev claimed paedophilia was connected to “non-traditional values” while discussing a law banning gay propaganda.

Two years prior, in 2020, the Russian Orthodox Church warned sexual education should not "turn into the corruption of children, leading to various diseases and the promotion of non-traditional orientation".

This false narrative continued in 2023, equating transgender identity with paedophilia. 

“Hungary has been using Russia’s playbook to spread LGBTI misinformation,” said Remy Bonny, executive director of the Brussels-based NGO, Forbidden Colours.

“The Hungarian government often uses the child protection narrative claiming LGBTI people are trying to influence and convert children (to trans, queer …) through sexual propaganda," he said.

Bonny recalled the so-called ‘gayrope’ misinformation narrative that Russya-1 has introduced.

“Orbán has been using this trope as well, claiming LGBTI groups from Brussels are spreading harmful propaganda and blaming the EU for trying to dismantle traditional family values,” he added.

Connections to Russia

Both AliPro and CFFR, joined forces with other European conservative movements in Poland and Slovakia to form the Alliance for the Common Good (ACG) in 2021.

ACG, which claims to be a European network of non-governmental organisations, aims to unite pro-life groups against the spread of LGBTI and gender ideology. 

In September 2021, AliPro invited representatives of Them Before Us, a US-based organisation that promotes marriage between a man and woman only, to the Czech Republic.

The anti-LGBTI organisation Them Before Us and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), another US-based organisation, are listed as partners of Promise to America’s Children, a coalition of non-profit organisations working for the wellbeing of American families.

According to revelations by a Central European investigative outlet VSquare, ADF was listed as a partner on the website of the Polish ultraconservative organisation Ordo Iuris which forms the ACG.

ADF International, the European arm of ADF, was one of the coordinators of Agenda Europe, a network of more than 400 ultra-conservatives that included members from the World Congress of Families (WCF), according to a report by openDemocracy.

The ADF increased its European spending from $2.6m (€2.4m) in 2018 to $5.7m (€5.2m) in its most recent tax filing (mid-2022- mid-2023).

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation exposed the WCF’s sponsorship by Russian oligarchs Konstantin Malofeev and Vladimir Yakunin, a close advisor to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Federation accounted for $188.2m (€173.8m) in anti-gender funding from 2009 to 2018 in Europe, from organisations associated with Yakunin and Malofeev, as per a report by the European Parliamentary Forum (EPF) for Sexual and Reproductive Rights. 

Another finding shows that Czech members Kateřina Ucháčová and her husband Radim Ucháč, who were part of the Committee for the Protection of Parental Rights (VORP) which later became AliPro, were invited to Moscow in 2014 to attend the ‘Large Families and the Future of Humanity Forum’.

The event was sponsored by Yakunin’s St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, according to leaked documents by Shaltai-Boltai, a Russian hacking group.

Secret funding

In terms of funding, the Czech AliPro claims to operate primarily on donations from individuals and legal entities, as per documents in the commercial register.

According to recent financial statements, in 2023, the Alliance for Family spent 3.5 million Czech Koruna (CZK) (€138,839) out of the 4.8m CZK income including 4.7m CZK (€186,406) received in donations.

Their donations more than tripled from 1.2m CZK (€50,050) in 2019 to 4.7m CZK (€ 186,406) in 2023, the names of donors are not disclosed.

One of the donors of the association is Czech billionaire Marek Španěl, owner of the media website Parlamentní Listy and majority owner of Echo Media, which publishes the weekly Echo and the internet daily Echo24.

Španěl told us: “I used to send financial contributions to the Alliance for Family. I sent the first hundreds of thousands of Czech Koruna about two years ago. I do not remember the total amount.”

On the other hand, the CFFR receives funding from the Hungarian government, according to a response to a FOIA request submitted by independent news outlets Telex and 24. Hu in 2022.

In the same year, the Center received around 9bn HUF (€22.98m) in unknown donations, according to an investigative journalism outlet Atlatszo.

Further, taxpayers' money was transferred to these institutions for example, 170m HUF (€434,190) was allotted for renovation in 2023.

In the second part of this investigation, we will reveal the collaboration of ultraconservative actors with the far-right, and foreign influence in the remaining two V4 countries of Poland and Slovakia.

This investigation was supported by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) grant for Disarming Disinformation 2024 programme.

This article was altered to correct a quote by Filip Milde.