UK government spent close to GBP 10 m buying political influencers’, says Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection Office

The British government spent close to 10 million pounds “buying political influencers”, the Sovereignty Protection Office said on Tuesday.

The office said in a statement that the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office had signed a contract worth more than 4.5 billion forints (EUR 11.3m) with Zinc Network Ltd., “a key player of the global political pressure network”. Citing recent information, it said the money had actually been used to “buy influencers in 22 countries, mainly in central and eastern Europe, who spread British state propaganda”.

The office said it had in the past already revealed that Zinc Network Ltd. “functions as one of the most important money-distributing organisations of the USAID political corruption machine”. It added that Hungarian news outlets like Átlátszó, Direkt36 and 444 had received US government funding as part of USAID’s Central Europe Program via Zinc Network. “The previous Democrat US administration also bought influencers using, among other resources, the budget of the embassy led by former ambassador David Pressman,” they said.

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The statement cited a former staff member of Zinc referring to the company’s activities as “state propaganda” used to “interfere in the domestic affairs of sovereign countries”. This was done through influencers who were “easy to identify with” and who created “videos that appear authentic”, the office said.

The Sovereignty Protection Office said the influencers had to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to keep them from revealing the British government’s influence. It added that Zinc’s staff members also played an active role in editing the influencers’ videos, which could only be published after being given the go-ahead by British government officials.

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