New conspiracy theory spreading quickly: Hungary does not exist; it is an American firm

A weird conspiracy theory is quickly spreading among Hungarians, which was noticed by the Hungarian police as well. Some people believe that Hungary does not exist, but it operates as a company incorporated in the United States.

As the recent covid pandemic has shown, misinformation and conspiracy theories regarding vaccines and mask-wearing can cause serious problems for a country that is not taking seriously the media education and the responsible use of the internet.

Now, a far less dangerous, but fairly incomprehensible conspiracy theory is spreading among Hungarians, which cites an American commercial code as their source of beliefs and self-proclaimed freedom from governmental institutions.

The basis of the UCC conspiracy theory

The beliefs of the grassroots groups are based on a US commercial code originally issued in 1952, the UCC – Uniform Commercial Code, which was made to harmonise the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across and with the United States.

They state that the UCC, the “Bible of International Trade,” applies to all commercial transactions worldwide, so with twisted logic, some conspiracy theorists say that this means that countries, such as Hungary, operate as a company registered in the United States.

It is not quite clear how the conspiracy theory, which shares many elements with the ‘One People’s Public Trust’, reached Hungary. The One People’s Public Trust (OPTT) believed that after the UCC1 filings on 25 December 2012, all world governments and corporations had been foreclosed, therefore people have free will and do whatever they wish to do.

Hungarian conspiracy theorists coupled this with the fact that the Hungarian constitution changed on 1 January 2012, changing the country’s name from “Hungarian Republic” to “Hungary”. According to a group of conspiracy theorists, the “Hungarian State Owners’ Association” (MATT), this meant that “262 members of the National Assembly created Hungary in a coup d’état, with the aim of usurping the institutions of the Hungarian State in order to erode the Hungarian Republic and become the sole ruler of the country through a process of legitimisation”.

It is hard to make an estimate of how many people are involved in this conspiracy theory because they do not form a coherent group, as pseudo law, strawman theory, new age and sovereign citizen elements are mixed with various other theories including anti-vaccine, flat earth, and religious beliefs.

Disobedience during a traffic stop, over legal matters

A common act of these groups is the use of “courtesy notices”, which originates from the previously mentioned OPTT group, citing UCC materials and “laws” in letters sent to public institutions, arguing that they do not fall under any legal system. Fun fact, the founder of the OPTT group, Heather Ann Tucci-Jarraf was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison for conspiring to launder money.

Unlike some more aggressive sovereign citizen groups in the United States, who are considered by the FBI in the US as “domestic terrorist movements”, in Hungary, usually the groups wouldn’t hurt a fly.

However, recently the Hungarian police had to take notice of their activity, as some of them did not identify themselves when stopped by the police. Rather, they started to show fabricated identity cards and license plates, refusing to cooperate with the authorities. Some groups are selling these identity cards for – you guessed it – real money, making a profit from the poor souls that believe in these tales.

Former US President Donald Trump does not shy away from mixing some fiction to achieve political gains either, he recently talked during the Hungarian CPAC.