About 1,000 Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest on July 26 to protest over allegations that the government used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to illegally spy on public figures in Hungary.
Drawing comparisons with the country's communist past, the protesters gathered at the House of Terror Museum in the capital, which commemorates victims of Nazism and communism. They then marched to the headquarters of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's governing Fidesz party, with some chanting "Victator!"
Hungary's government is at odds with many other European Union member states over rule-of-law and democracy issues.
It has not commented on the allegations about the use of the spyware other than to say that Hungary's intelligence-gathering is conducted lawfully.
A report by a group of 17 international media organizations and Amnesty International this month said that the Pegasus spyware, made and licensed by the Israeli company NSO Group, was used in attempts to hack smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists, and government officials in several countries.
That investigation concluded that the digital devices of some 300 individuals were targeted by the spyware in Hungary, including at least 10 lawyers and five journalists.
