In the third quarter (August - October 2023) of the operation of the Lakmusz-HDMO anti-disinformation project, Lakmusz journalists wrote 52 articles. Out of the articles published, 24 were fact-checks of specific claims, while the rest of our material dealt with the disinformation environment in a broader sense in the form of analyses, interviews and podcasts.

The source of the verified claims was a politician in 12 cases (8 pro-government, 4 opposition), other public figures or organisations in 6 cases, and some kind of media in 6 cases. 2 of our fact-checks dealt with claims where the original source was unknown or the claim came from a private person.

15 of our fact-checks dealt with public life and political issues. In response to international events, the second most common topic was disinformation about war conflicts: 4 of our fact-checks were on the Russia-Ukraine war, and 2 on the Hamas-Israel war. We also had several articles on health and science, and disinformation about education, migration, and the LGBTQ community (each article can cover more than one topic, and these are included in the aggregate).

Beyond fact-checking

Alongside fact-checking, we are also increasingly focusing on producing materials that not only examine a single claim, but also reveal the operation of the disinformation environment from different perspectives.

1. Investigations

We previously published several investigations into who edit social media sites - anonymously - that spread false information or content that incites hatred against members of a community. We reported on a site that published the personal details of antifa protesters, wrote about a mysterious tiktokker who is in fact of Russian origin, and did a video interview with a person who had previously made viral memes for pro-government sites for money.

• The most-read article of the third quarter was one such investigation: we explored the workings of a strange volunteer battalion, the St. Stephen's Legion, and showed how Hungarians are being recruited to fight alongside the Russians - even though such activity is forbidden by law.
• We also mapped out who the influencers are who spread government propaganda in the international space, in English, on Twitter/X.

2. Interviews with disinformation experts

We regularly interview professionals who are experts in a particular part of the disinformation ecosystem. In recent months we have been talking to:

• Krisztina Rozgonyi, former chairwoman of the National Communications Authority, the predecessor of the NMHH, on what role public service media could play in the fight against disinformation;
• Alberto Rabbachin of the European Commission on how the European Union is trying to get big tech companies to do more to fight the spread of disinformation;
• Veronika Hincová Frankovská, head of the Slovak fact-checking portal demagog.sk, on how Russian disinformation has infiltrated the Slovak election campaign.

3. Media literacy

Since the launch of Lakmusz, it has been our explicit aim to use our articles to do more than simply present the facts behind certain claims or to report when we have encountered manipulated content in the public domain. In doing so, we consider it important to point out in our articles frequently used classic reasoning errors and manipulation techniques, as well as to present methods that we as journalists often use to verify information.

With this in mind, we have created a dedicated media literacy sub-page on our website, where we have collected for you our articles that provide detailed guidance on particular fact-checking methods.

At the end of the third quarter, in October, we paid special attention to the Hamas-Israel war. On this occasion, we published several articles giving advice on how to navigate in a war situation.

Readership

In the third quarter of 2023, we reached 281,000 readers, with the following being our most-read content:

• St. Stephen's Legion: a strange "volunteer battalion" recruits Hungarians to fight on the side of the Russians - 40,000 readers
• The pro-government media's favourite Moscow tiktokker appears on a new channel, with the same old message – 28,000 readers
• Libri fined for "folioing" the book "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls" – 21,000 readers
• Are Hungarians really fleeing the country, or was Klára Dobrev "eavesdropping" about the emigration figures? – 20,000 readers
• Tucker Carlson says not to be afraid of all lies - we looked at what he said in Budapest – 20,000 readers

Social Media

The social media presence of Lakmusz has continued to grow; we are currently available on these platforms:

• Facebook - 12,700 followers
• Instagram – 2,600 followers
• Twitter – 1,400 followers
• Newsletter – 1,150 subscribers

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Written by: Blanka Zöldi, editor-in-chief and Zsófia Bulla, project manager