Negative and Engaged: Sentiments towards the 2016 Migrant Quota Referendum in Hungarian Online Media

Abstract

The 2016 migrant quota referendum and the preceding anti-migrant and anti-EU campaign in Hungary led to a milestone in manipulating public fear of societal change by new East-Central European populism. This article maps and analyzes sentiments toward the referendum in Hungarian-language online media, using software-supported sentiment analysis of mentions of the quota referendum published online between 1 September and 31 October 2016. Results show a preponderance of negative sentiments over positive ones in both pro-government and independent media and the dominance of independent media in the coverage of the event. Coverage of the referendum received more weight in pro-government media compared to their lesser online presence, but this was fueled by astroturfed online discussion communities and content disseminated from at least one Russian state propaganda source.