Biometric anti-queer hostility in Hungary: Petition calls on EU Commission to fully ban face recognition

Berlin, 25.06.2025 -

While the Hungarian government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has banned the Pride parade in Budapest next Saturday, the Budapest city government still plans to hold it. This open conflict thrusts the EU member state’s police into the spotlight. Following a recent amendment to the law, the Hungarian police are allowed to use biometric face recognition systems for even minor offenses or misdemeanors. This also includes participation in a prohibited assembly, which is what the government considers the Pride parade in Budapest to be. By using biometric face recognition systems at the Pride, the police would be breaking EU law.

EU Commission needs to enforce EU law
According to the AI Act, the use of live face recognition systems in public spaces is prohibited, apart from a few exceptions. The prosecution of misdemeanor is not such an exception under the AI Act.

AlgorithmWatch today published a petition calling on the EU Commission to intervene. "What's happening in Hungary must be a wake-up call for the Commission. The government is knowingly and willfully ignoring EU law and curtailing fundamental civil rights," comments Kilian Vieth-Ditlmann, Head of Policy at AlgorithmWatch.

In the petition, the initiators and first signatories also call for a comprehensive ban on biometric recognition systems in public spaces. "The developments in Hungary might have a snowball effect if the EU allows biometric mass surveillance to become an instrument of political repression. This is not only a frontal attack on the freedom of assembly but intended to bring political activism in public spaces to an end. None of the historical political protests of recent decades, whether in Eastern or Western Europe, would have taken place under such circumstances," says Kilian Vieth-Ditlmann.

The initiators of the pretition also include the umbrella organization European Digital Rights (EDRi), the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties), and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU). The petition was published in English and in German:

English: https://algorithmwatch.org/en/pridewithpride/
German: https://algorithmwatch.org/de/pridewithpride/

Amongst the first signatories are: Chaos Computer Club, D64 – Zentrum für digitalen Fortschritt, Das NETTZ, Datenpunks e.V., Digitale Freiheite.V., Digitale Gesellschaft e.V., und ichbinhier e.V.