The Hungarian parliament recently passed Act XLIX of 2024 on restricting pornographic content online to protect children and amending certain electronic commerce and advertising laws. In addition to the passage of this Act, the government submitted a draft Act on Combating Online Aggression.
The Hungarian parliament recently passed Act XLIX of 2024 on restricting pornographic content online to protect children and amending certain electronic commerce and advertising laws. In addition to the passage of this Act, the government submitted a draft Act on Combating Online Aggression. The following article outlines the key features of both Acts.
ISPs to provide filtering software
Hungarian ISPs must include filtering software in their services upon the request of the subscriber, and for residential subscribers, free of charge. Providers of fixed internet access services must offer both filtered and unfiltered services at the same access point upon request. The Act is technology-neutral, leaving technical details to ISPs. The filtering software will use a constantly updated blacklist of adult websites, maintained by the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH).
The obligations take effect on different dates based on the service and subscriber numbers:
- 1 January 2026: mobile internet access services;
- 1 May 2026: fixed internet access services with 10,000 and more subscribers;
- 1 January 2027: fixed internet access services with fewer than 10,000 subscribers.
Subscriber contracts before these dates will have a one-year transitional period within which the service provider will offer the filtering services to the subscribers with a 30-day notice. The President of the NMHH will regulate the information provided to subscribers and service details at a later date.
Stricter advertising and product placement rules
Advertising alcoholic beverages is banned before, during, and after content targeting children or minors. Ads aimed at children or minors that present goods in a harmful or dangerous way are prohibited. These restrictions apply to all media.
Content for children under 14 years on video-sharing platforms cannot include product placements. Providers must update their terms and conditions accordingly.
These rules take effect on 1 January 2025.
Content moderation obligations for online press
Press publishers allowing user comments must establish a moderation policy and procedure to tackle unlawful or harmful comments, such as incitement to violence and hate speech.
The NNMHH will monitor compliance and provide guidelines.
These obligations are introduced by the draft Act and expected to take effect on 1 January 2025, pending legislative approval.
Next steps
ISPs must introduce filtering software by the specified deadlines. Advertising and product placement rules take effect on 1 January 2025. The full text of the Act is available in the Hungarian Official Journal, issue 114 of 2024.
Parliament will debate the draft Act in the coming weeks, which is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2025, likely without major changes. (The text can be found here).
For more information on how online content restrictions could impact your company, contact your CMS client partner or these CMS experts.
This article was co-authored by: János Bálint
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