Claim 405

The law criminalized spreading information deemed to undermine the pandemic response, with fines and up to five years in prison.

Published 2026-09-22. Last reviewed 2026-09-22. 1 source.

Statement: The law criminalized spreading information deemed to undermine the pandemic response, with fines and up to five years in prison.
Field: effect_on_reporting
Value: Penalty of up to five years in prison
About: incident 2020-hungary-coronavirus-fake-news-law
Source: Press freedom threatened as Hungary criminalizes coronavirus 'fake news' and hands Orban sweeping powers
Publisher: International Press Institute
Method: outlet report
Checked: 2026-09-22
Confidence: medium
Status: current
Source date: 2020-03-31

Quotation from the source

criminalizes the spreading of misinformation deemed to undermine the authorities' fight against the COVID-19 virus with fines and up to five years in prison