Kuruc.info is a
far-right Hungarian online portal registered in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
affiliated with politician
Előd Novák.
The website often harbours extreme
anti-semitic sentiments,
including frequent
Holocaust denial
Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims:
...
,
and frequently publishes
anti-Romani and
homophobic content.
History
The first iteration of the website, kettosallampolgarsag.hu, was created to support the
2004 Hungarian dual citizenship referendum.
The website then illegally published personal information about publicist Imre Para-Kovács.
As the website's focus broadened, and its traffic kept growing even after the referendum had ended, its editors decided to start Kuruc.info on 01 February 2006,
named after the "
Kuruc", the rebels against the
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
who fought for Hungarian independence between 1671 and 1711.
[Molnár, V. (2016) Civil society, radicalism and the rediscovery of mythic nationalism. Nations and Nationalism, 22: 165–185. doi: 10.1111/nana.12126.] Until 2019, Kuruc.info's staff was anonymous,
and the website was registered in the name of a private individual, first in
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...
,
then
Healdsburg, California.
The website first gained notoriety for its "more
SZDSZ, more
paedophiles" campaign before the
2006 Hungarian parliamentary election,
which was also closely affiliated with the newly formed
Jobbik party.
In 2006, Kuruc.info also posted photographs, addresses, and phone numbers of judges and prosecutors who had participated in legal proceedings against anti-government protestors.
Several of the officials whose details were posted received threatening phone calls and letters.
After this, the website still routinely published the personal data of individuals they opposed.
In 2008, the web servers of Kuruc.info were shut down
after requests from the Hungarian government.
However, the website quickly came back online.
In 2012, the Hungarian government requested the American government to shut the website down again without success.
Around the same time, it was revealed that the website was registered under the name of Bela Varga, a winemaker from
Healdsburg, California who denied his involvement with the website, claiming that he registered it for a friend.
Although Kuruc.info was heavily associated with the
Jobbik political party in its early days,
it became increasingly critical of the party around 2016, mainly due to Jobbik's drift toward a more centre-right ideology, which was strongly opposed by the website's owner
and previous Jobbik vice president
Előd Novák This split, as well as the emergence of other right-wing websites such as 888.hu and Pesti Srácok saw the website's popularity decline, dropping from the 34th most popular Hungarian website to 96th in the span of 4 years. After years of denying his involvement with Kuruc.info,
Előd Novák revealed his ownership of the website in 2019, as well as the involvement of ex-journalist József Hering, ex-
MIÉP politician Tamás Esze, and publicist János Lantos.
Political ideology
Kuruc.info considers itself to be more right-wing than the far-right Hungarian political party known as the
Jobbik, distinguishing itself from ''
Barikád'', which is regarded as Jobbik's "semi-official online news organ".
Kuruc.info nevertheless maintains a relationship with Jobbik through advertisements and payment to personnel.
since the formation of the more radical
Our Homeland Movement party in 2018, the gradually more moderate Jobbik party has fallen out of favour and even become one of the main enemies in the news of the Kuruc portal. According to the articles of Kuruc.info , the Jobbik party has become synonymous with ideological betrayal.
[Gábor Vona led his party down the path of betrayal, then quit - kuruc.info about Jobbik party (in Hungarian]
/ref>
Categories on the site include "anti-Hungarianism", "Gypsy-crime", "Jewish crime", "migrant crime", "economic news",
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Alt-right websites
2006 establishments in the United States
2006 establishments in California
Anti-communism in Hungary
Anti-communism in the United States
Antiziganism in Hungary
Antiziganism in the United States
Antisemitism in Hungary
Antisemitism in California
European American culture in California
Fascism in Hungary
Far-right politics in Hungary
Holocaust-denying websites
Hungarian-American culture
European political websites
Hungarian websites
Political mass media in Hungary
Internet properties established in 2006