Women’s Digital Grassroots Activism in Illiberal Hungary

This lecture explores Hungarian women’s digital grassroots activism that emerged in the early 2010s alongside the rapid global spread of social media, coinciding with the rise of an illiberal regime following the FIDESZ party’s two-thirds victory in the 2010 parliamentary election. It examines the possibilities and limitations of activism—and of using social media for democratic purposes more broadly—under such conditions. It argues that while recent scholarship increasingly recognizes social media as a driver of democratic erosion globally, such critiques often overlook the platforms’ significance in contexts where illiberal actors already dominate traditional media, as in Hungary until April 2026. Based on digital observation, discourse analysis, and interviews with Hungarian feminist digital creators, the lecture shows how the expansion of social media enabled Hungarian women—alongside other marginalized groups—to engage in civic self-organization and feminist resistance under illiberal rule, by using digital platforms as low-cost, accessible tools for community-building and information exchange around locally long-neglected women’s rights issues.