2014 Hungarian Internet Tax Protests

Overview

In October 2014, Internet tax protests were held in Hungary and in Poland, which were triggered by the Hungarian government's announcement of a proposed Internet tax to apply from 2015. The proposal was made public on October 21, 2014, as part of the modified "Taxation Law" meant to extend the existing telecommunications tax to Internet usage.

Reaction

On October 21, 2014, a Facebook page titled Százezren az internetadó ellen ("Hundred Thousand Against the Internet Tax")^[1] was created by Balázs Gulyás, a 27 year old political blogger,^[2] on the same day the proposal was made public. Within a week the page had gained more than 225,000 likes.

Gulyás acted as the main organizer of the two Budapest demonstrations, also making speeches to the crowd. The first event was held on October 26. While the demonstration's intent was peaceful, a few hundred people attacked the ruling party's headquarters after the demonstration concluded, hurling broken computer equipment at it, toppling the fences, breaking in windows, and displaying EU flags on the balcony. The event was covered the following day by several international news sites including Mashable^[3] and BBC.^[4]

After government resistance to the protesters' demands, another demonstration was held on October 28. Simultaneously, similar events took place in multiple cities in Hungary and in Warsaw, Poland.

Gulyás projected a third protest to be held on November 17, the day the parliament will vote on the tax law amendment, if they government won't drop their plans.

Online Presence

On October 21, 2014, a Facebook page titled Százezren az internetadó ellen ("Hundred Thousand Against the Internet Tax")^[1] was created by Balázs Gulyás, a 27 year old political blogger,^[2] on the same day the proposal was made public. Within a week the page had gained more than 225,000 likes.

On October 21, Twitter user jatekpartizan^[5] introduced the hashtag #internetado ("internet tax"). Within a week the hashtag was tweeted out^[6] over 3,000 times.

The same day, Twitter user kutpet^[6] introduced the hashtag #netado^[7] ("net tax"). Within a week the hashtag was tweeted out^[8] over 1,000 times.

Search interest

External references

^[1] Facebook – Százezren az internetadó ellen

^[2] Euronews Hungary – Kicsoda Gulyás Balázs, a netadó elleni tüntetés szervezője?

^[3] Mashable – Thousands Swarm Budapest Streets to Protest Unprecedented Internet Tax

^[4] BBC – Hungarians stage Budapest protest against internet tax

^[5] Twitter – jatekpartizan

^[6] Topsy – internetado

^[7] Twitter – kutpet

^[8] Topsy – #netado