To enforce the controversial ban on “LGBT+ propaganda” in Hungary, the NMHH has turned its attention to the Netherlands. Due to the headquarters of several media companies being located in the Netherlands, including streaming platform Netflix, the country has become a focal point in Hungary’s cultural war. The majority of foreign complaints submitted to the Dutch Commissariat for the Media are Hungarian. In 2023, 32 complaints were received from foreign media authorities, 28 of which came from the Hungarian NMHH, the Commissariat confirmed to OUTtv.
The main issue in this surge of complaints is the age classification for LGBT+ content, which the Hungarians believe is too low, given their ban on exposing children to “LGBT+ propaganda.” Under this law, children may not be exposed to depictions of same-sex couples, for instance. A notable Hungarian complaint that surfaced in 2022 involved two girls kissing in the Netflix series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, which was deemed non-compliant with Hungarian guidelines. However, the CvdM notes that complaints about LGBT+ content are often linked to other elements, such as violence and coarse language. In some cases not directly related to LGBT+ content, the Hungarian complaints were upheld.
The NICAM, the organisation behind Kijkwijzer (the Dutch content classification system), also frequently handles complaints from Hungary. In 2023, the NICAM received 19 complaints from Hungary about age ratings for LGBT+ characters and provided substantive assessments for 16 of them. Tiffany van Stormbroek, NICAM’s managing director, confirmed that depictions of same-sex couples, transgender individuals, or drag queens were the triggers for these complaints. Van Stormbroek stated: “The NICAM’s substantive assessment of these complaints is always based on Kijkwijzer criteria. None of the 16 assessments resulted in changes to the age classification or content indicators.” In total, the NICAM received 46 complaints from Hungary in 2023.
Legal case
The complaints from the Hungarian regulator have not gone unnoticed. According to LGBT+ organisation ILGA Europe, these complaints were cited in the European lawsuit against Hungary’s anti-LGBT+ law, arguing that the law disrupts the functioning of the EU’s internal market. Under European rules, Hungary cannot unilaterally ban a product, such as films or TV series, that is legally distributed elsewhere in the EU on the grounds of containing “LGBT+ propaganda.”
The anti-LGBT+ law is part of Prime Minister Orbán’s cultural war against European interference in Hungary. LGBT+ rights are portrayed as un-Hungarian and as a method of “indoctrinating” children. Orbán has referred to an ongoing “LGBT+ offensive,” compared LGBT+ people to conspiracy theorists who “deny biology,” and described “gender ideology” as part of a “virus developed in progressive liberal laboratories.”
