Hungary’s plan for real-time facial recognition violation of EU AI Act

Last Tuesday, a new anti-LGBTQ+ law passed Hungary’s parliament, banning Pride events and allowing law enforcement authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify attendees of the festivities in real-time. However, experts say this is prohibited by the EU AI Act.

The bill intends to prohibit holding or attending events that violate Hungary’s contentious ‘child protection’ legislation. Under these laws, depicting or promoting homosexuality to minors under 18 is illegal.

Participants in these Pride events risk a fine of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints, or approximately $546. The bill also allows law enforcement authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify individuals attending a prohibited event.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the law was pushed through parliament by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in an accelerated procedure with 136 to 27 votes. Once passed, it immediately led to large protests outside parliament.

Budapest Pride spokesperson Jojó Majercsik told the AP that the law aimed to ‘scapegoat’ the LGBTQ+ community to silence voices critical of Orbán’s government. “This is not child protection, this is fascism,” the organizer said.

“This is a very serious amendment to the law specifically aimed at banning Pride. You can love and not love Pride, but this amendment to the law clearly aims to deter people from standing up for the equality of their fellow citizens,” lawyer at the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) Szabolcs Hegyi told Hungarian news outlet Telex.

The amendment not only violates human rights, but also contradicts the EU’s AI Act.

Dr Laura Caroli, who negotiated EU AI rules for the European Parliament, explains to Euractiv that the use of facial recognition for such events is “actively prohibited” by Article 5 of the AI Act.

This article dictates that facial recognition used to identify people of interest in real-time is prohibited for EU member states. Only in exceptional circumstances, such as a threat to national security or terrorism, member states may use facial recognition technology.

The AI Act is the world’s first comprehensive law on artificial intelligence. Its goal is to restrict the use of AI technology in Europe to safeguard fundamental civil rights such as privacy, and to put a stop to potential dangers like discrimination and exclusion.