Pride marches banned and lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify attendees

International news via Reuters:

Seventeen European Union countries accused Hungary on Tuesday of contravening fundamental EU values by passing laws that target LGBTQ+ people, as tensions deepen between Budapest and a majority of member states.

Hungary’s parliament passed legislation in March that creates a legal basis to ban Pride marches there and lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend. It also approved constitutional changes in April stipulating that Hungary recognises only two sexes, male and female.

“We are highly alarmed by these developments which run contrary to the fundamental values of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights,” the governments of the 17 countries said in a joint statement.

They called on Hungary to revise the measures and asked the European Commission to make full use of its powers if Budapest does not do so. The Commission can take legal action against member states if it believes they are violating EU law.

The statement was backed by Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The declaration came ahead of a hearing on Tuesday in a long-running process where EU ministers examine concerns that Hungary is at risk of breaching core EU values.

The process could in theory lead to Hungary being stripped of its right to vote on EU decisions. But diplomats say there is not sufficient support among the 27 EU member states to take that step.

‘MORE NUANCED VIEW’

Arriving at the meeting, Hungary’s Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka said: “There is no such thing in Hungary as a Pride ban”.

“I hope that after these discussions my colleagues around the table will walk out with a more nuanced view on the Hungarian legislation,” he said.

But activists say the measures amount to a de-facto ban. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Pride organisers “should not even bother” this year, while his chief of staff Gergely Gulyas has said Hungary “does not have to tolerate Pride marching through downtown Budapest”. 

Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has repeatedly clashed with the EU and its member countries over democratic standards, minority rights and foreign policy. 

Critics have accused Orban of undermining the rule of law, which the Hungarian government denies. 

His ruling Fidesz party has said the Pride march could be considered harmful to children and that protecting them would supersede the right to assemble.

European Commissioner Michael McGrath, who oversees democracy, justice and rule of law issues, said on Tuesday there were serious concerns about the situation in Hungary. 

“Freedom of assembly is a fundamental right,” he told reporters. 

“It is not a threat to children. It’s not a threat to anyone, and it must be protected and upheld at all times, and so the Commission is examining all of its options,” he said.

Reporting by Lili Bayer and Andrew Gray in Brussels and Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Gareth Jones

The companies failed to implement appropriate measures to protect minors from adult content

International news via Reuters:

Adult content platforms Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos will be investigated for suspected breaches of EU online content law, EU regulators said on Tuesday, in a move that could lead to fines of as much as 6% of their global annual turnover.

The European Commission said the companies had not complied with rules requiring them to put in place appropriate measures to protect minors from adult content.

They also breached rules obliging companies to take risk assessment and mitigation measures of negative effects on the rights of children and to prevent them from accessing adult content via age verification tools.

“The online space should be a safe environment for children to learn and connect. Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement. 

Pornhub is part of Cypriot group Aylo Freesites Ltd, XNXX is owned by Czech company NKL Associates, Stripchat is a subsidiary of Cypriot company Technius Ltd and XVideos is part of WebGroup Czech Republic.

The companies were designated as very large online platforms under the Digital Services Act in 2023, which requires them to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms.

The Commission said it would drop its designation of Stripchat as a very large online platform in four months’ time after its average monthly number of users fell below the DSA user threshold.

Separately, the EU executive said EU countries would coordinate actions against smaller pornographic platforms to protect children.

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee;Editing by Alison Williams