Launching Digital Civic Circles a Huge Success

In just a few weeks, more than sixty thousand people have joined the digital civic circle (DCC) initiative launched by PM Viktor Orban. In addition, several hundred different DCCs have been created, including ones aimed at fighting liberal fake news as well as protecting abused women. Thus, the conquest of digital space — which Prime Minister Orban announced in his Tusvanyos speech — is proving to be a major success. By contrast, Peter Magyar’s “system-changing membership” has been a serious failure: more than a year after its launch, it has only half as many members as the digital civic circles.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban with members of the first digital civic circle at the Carmelite Monastery (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister’s Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)

The conquest of online space has begun, and the digital civic circles (DCC) have quickly achieved great success. As is known, Viktor Orban announced the creation of the digital civic circles in his Tusvanyos speech, joining forces with civil society to establish a new digital civic power. According to the Prime Minister, the creation of the digital civic circles carries electoral significance but also goes far beyond that.

For us, as a right-wing, civic, Christian-conservative, national community in Hungary, we too must do something with virtual space. Today this is hostile territory, and that is not right. We too need a digital conquest; we must create the immune system, our moral source code, our national algorithm,

– he said.

Viktor Orban announced the launch of DCCs in his speech in Romania's Tusvanyos (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister’s Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)

In his Tusvanyos speech, the Prime Minister also announced the establishment of the very first digital civiv circle (DCC). Alongside Viktor Orban, the founders of the initial circles included athletes, musicians, philosophers, politicians, and historians. Members of the first DCC include: opera singer Erika Miklosa, businessman Elek Nagy, psychologist Bence Partos, hurdler Balazs Baji, Secretary of State Janos Nagy, philosopher Andras Lanczi, rapper Dopeman, HUN-REN CEO Roland Jakab, journalist Zsuzsa Mathe, writer Mor Ban, historian Maria Schmidt, producer Philip Rakay, education researcher Katalin Balatoni, and Adam Kavecsanszki, director of the Foundation for a Civic Hungary.

Building instead of destroying in the digital civic circles

A few days after Tusvanyos, in the Fighters' Hour podcast, PM Orban emphasized that those who would participate in the civic circles would all be people with national sentiment, people who care about their country, who want not to destroy but to build, and who want to ensure a future.

In the few weeks since the launch, several hundred DCCs have been created, and membership has already surpassed sixty thousand.

The activities of the various DCCs are diverse. For example, the Zebra  digital civic circle founded by Mate Kocsis combats liberal fake news. The Fidesz parliamentary group leader wrote on his social media page that there is a growing demand to put an end to the outrageous level of incitement, agitation, and fake news production. Eszter Vitalyos founded the “Women Against Abuse" digital civic circle. The government spokesperson explained that the DCC was created to provide a safe and supportive space for those who want to confront various forms of abuse, or who simply believe that by standing together and supporting each other, change can be achieved.

The DCC dubbed “Manage Your Finances Wisely” has also been launched, with National Economy Minister Marton Nagy among its members. Andre Paloc, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Economy, said they want to deal with topics that interest people — all the issues that affect household budgets. The “Budapest DCC,” founded by Alexandra Szentkiralyi, focuses on the capital’s most pressing issues. The Fidesz group leader in Budapest noted that members help to envision the future of the city.

Peter Magyar’s system-changing membership is a fiasco 

It should be noted that Peter Magyar is also trying to conquer the online space, but without success. In June of last year, Mr. Magyar announced the Tisza Party’s system-changing membership program, which has since turned out to be a dismal failure.

Peter Magyar appears to be floundering with his subscription-based system-changing program (Photo: Balazs Hatlaczki)

At present, they have barely more than thirty thousand members, far short of their target of fifty thousand.

The failure is even more striking when one considers that the digital civic circles, launched only a few weeks ago, already have twice as many members as Mr. Magyar’s initiative.

The system-changing membership is based largely on a rip-off scheme, since every month Mr. Magyar’s group automatically deducts the membership fee from its subscribers’ accounts. In return, members receive a digital card along with various updates and privileges. According to the form available on the party’s website, the Tisza Party can be supported with different sums: the cheapest option is three thousand forints, but there are also options of five thousand, ten thousand, and even a so-called “VIP membership” costing 41,665 forints.

There's fading interest in the Tisza Party’s program

Since its launch, the system-changing membership has repeatedly seen a significant decline in subscribers. This shows that many people have become disillusioned with Peter Magyar. The first major setback came in August of last year, when three hundred people canceled their memberships within a few days. In the ensuing panic, the Tisza Party temporarily removed from its website the counter showing how many had subscribed. In October, according to figures available on the party’s official website, more than one hundred and fifty members canceled in a single day.

This spring, after a scandal involving MEP Kinga Kollar had erupted, another three hundred people decided within weeks that they would no longer pay the exorbitant membership fee.

And following the Tisza Party’s date reach scandal this June, several hundred more chose to cancel their system-changing memberships altogether.

Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orban with members of the first digital civic circle at the Carmelite Monastery (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister’s Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)