The Sovereignty Protection Office has identified Internews as the 'organization channelling US public funds to Hungarian media critical of the government".
The body said the investigation revealed that "media support programs from the US were not only providing technological support but also raised political and ideological expectations" towards the news outlets in question, the office said. "Internews is working to help the American progressive elite in putting certain countries' decision-makers and governments under pressure."
Internews is being funded by USAID, US financier George Soros's Open Society Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for Democracy, the statement said. "The latter played a serious role in financing the opposition coalition during the 2022 elections [in Hungary]," the body said.
Internews "is, in reality, dependent on the US government and its national security organizations," it said. The statement said Internews provided "not only money but also the technology and content to spread specific narratives to the outlets, which had to represent the values and messages of the network and show activity in specific topics."
The organization is particularly active in central and eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Hungary, it said. Its media programmes have been funding outlets, 444.hu among them, since 2010, the statement said.