AI is omnipresent: when talking about media and advertising, we need to look at politics too, how campaigning parties use AI to enhance their messages or tear down those of their opponent.
The upcoming parliamentary elections in Central and Eastern Europe in 2026 spring highlight the role of AI and various method of its use in political communication and campaign running, almost all differently in the electing countries, Slovenia (22 March), Hungary (12 April) and Bulgaria (19 April).
Artificial intelligence is of course used legitimately by parties and their advertisers for campaign optimisation, but also maliciously in several different ways, like manipulation, disinformation, and foreign interference.
Key AI tactics in election influence
The legit way as AI is used is no different than being utilized in any other campaign for message amplification and targeting: with the help of AI advertisers can generate variations of political messages at scale, A/B test narratives rapidly and it also gives the opportunity to micro-target specific voter segments.
The problematic angle of campaigning isn’t unknown to voters either, but just like the with the legitimate use, striving to be more effective and impactful, the malicious intent also gets amplified range and makes it even harder for voters to be well informed.
These illegitimate tools include synthetic media, such as deepfakes and voice cloning. As these fake videos or audios get increasingly realistic by the minute, it’s almost impossible to tell what the truth is. Smear campaigns and setting agendas in order to confuse voters aren’t surprising anyone, but with AI the scale these scams can be made has never been seen before.
Hardships in Hungary
In Hungary, the use of AI unfolds within an already highly centralized and polarized media ecosystem. Government-aligned messaging has increasingly focused on emotionally charged themes, including
war and security. AI can amplify these narratives by optimizing their delivery, testing which frames resonate most strongly with different segments of the electorate and adjusting accordingly.
In the run-up to the Hungarian election, manipulated videos and other misleading content targeting opposition leader Péter Magyar have been circulating widely online, often reinforcing narratives promoted by allies of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The Politico has
warned that the surge presents a delicate challenge for the EU, which has committed to tackling election interference while insisting that it will not interfere in member states’ domestic electoral processes.
Another method for influencing the voters and election is disinformation, and thanks to AI it can be executed at scale never before seen. AI enables the cheap and fast production of fake news and coordinated bot activity, all enabling narrative flooding, in other words overrepresenting the coverage and engagement of certain topics, simply to amplify them or to suppress other issues.
Army attack
Mariann Forgács, CEO of Hungarian digital agency Be Social mentioned a recently uncovered bot army operating in Hungarian in an
interview. This bot army is made of pages created en masse most likely from existing databases – pages instead of personal profiles because these don’t need personal verification. However, they don’t operate as pages, they are simply used to amplify narratives through liking and commenting. The profile pictures are also AI-generated, often with visible watermarks, but this apparently does not matter, they are successful in controlling narratives as is. Mariann said: “It’s virtually impossible to differentiate these fake pages from real ones, making it impossible to withstand the flood of fake information. The sad truth is that use of AI will only intensify as the elections are approaching and these tools are likely to become increasingly sophisticated to influence voters over time.”
These tools and methods are used side-by-side in election campaigns, further deepening social conflicts and devising societies: Bulgaria enters the 2026 elections with a history of political instability, low institutional trust, and a well-established disinformation ecosystem. These conditions create fertile ground for AI-driven manipulation. Experts
anticipate a surge in: AI-generated fake news articles and websites, synthetic political personas designed to influence public debate and coordinated campaigns amplifying divisive narratives.
