Tisza App Users Targeted After Data Leak

Government-affiliated media revealed the names and email addresses of Tisza app users and doxed those affected in what is the latest move of a panicking government - writes Ábel Bede

Last week saw the leak of the personal data of hundreds of thousands of users of Tisza’s app, Tisza Világ. Initially, it seemed that the scandal would only be used by Fidesz to discredit Tisza’s trustworthiness and image of competency. However, last week also saw data being used for something more sinister: a systemic campaign of harassment and intimidation.

Péter Magyar reacting to the leak.

First, several government-affiliated outlets, including the magazine Mandiner (which normally strikes a more moderate tone compared to other Fidesz papers) started publishing a list of public-facing, opposition-aligned individuals who allegedly appeared in the database. However, the article also listed individuals who say they never even downloaded Tisza Világ in the first place; Válasz Online journalist Szabolcs Vörös and the theatre director Róbert Alföldi both publicly denied that they used the app, despite being named in Mandiner’s article.

The same day, in a more concerning development, Fidesz spokesperson Balázs Németh, who is set to be a candidate for the party at next year’s general election, also filmed himself going to a local Tisza activist’s house loudly proclaiming that their personal data, including name and email address is publicly available for everyone to see (and “is already in the hands of Ukrainians”).

In an even more shocking turn of events, it emerged that an online user first created a searchable map of all alleged users of the app, then a searchable Excel spreadsheet also appeared. The right-wing daily Magyar Nemzet (while not providing a link to the stolen database because of a press release by the National Data Protection authority which highlighted that the list and its dissemination are illegal) then encouraged its readers to search for their local Tisza activists. On Wednesday, Promanad24, an outlet affiliated with government minister János Lázár, published an article which listed locals from Lázár’s constituency whose information was leaked, with their profession alongside them.

Thus, now, Fidesz’s entire media apparatus is no longer only using the database to discredit public figures (some of whom likely downloaded the app merely based on the requirements of their professions), but encouraging their voters to look up ordinary Tisza sympathisers and activists in their local area. In what can also be interpreted as a threat disguised as a concern, in its coverage of the matter, Magyar Nemzet’s article highlights that “knowing where a person who supports a party someone finds unlikeable can even lead to physician violence in extreme circumstances.”

It is not difficult to interpret the past week’s events as another milestone of democratic backsliding in Hungary. The coordinated campaign of media outlets and a leaked screenshot of a Facebook post by Fidesz influencer Áron Ambrózy which shows that he had known about the existence of the map three days before it appeared in the media, clearly point towards government involvement. This move is also a sign of sheer desperation among the party apparatus and a wider sense of panic in the leadership. Despite full-blown campaigning over the past few months, they seem to be unable to significantly decrease Tisza’s lead in the polls.

It is well documented that the socialist government under János Kádár in the late eighties escalated its use of force and toughened the so-called “soft dictatorship” in its last few years as the party’s decline started to dawn on its leaders. Whether what we are seeing is the same scenario playing out before Viktor Orbán’s downfall in the spring remains to be seen.

Ábel Bede