#09 OPPOSE THE SPREAD OF DISINFORMATION AND OTHER MEDIA MANIPULATIONS RELATED TO THE ELECTION PROCESS
Voters must have the freedom to form an opinion (VC I.3.1.a.i), and one of the important prerequisites for achieving that freedom is that public information regarding the electoral process is not marked by disinformation, i.e. misleading and inaccurate information, as well as that the citizens themselves have knowledge needed to recognise such manipulations. In order for these standards to be met, it is necessary to undertake the following:
- Establish cooperation with the companies that own the social networks Facebook and Twitter in order to prevent the spread of disinformation during the election period
The findings of the media monitoring carried out by CRTA during the 2022 pre-election period showed that Facebook, as the most popular social network in Serbia where more than one half of the citizens of Serbia are informed, is a significant source of misinformation regarding the election process in Serbia. At the same time, at the beginning of 2020, the social network Twitter identified a group of accounts connected in an inauthentic coordinated activity that worked to promote the Serbian Progressive Party and its leader and on that occasion deleted more than 8,000 accounts.
Bearing in mind the importance of these two networks for the production and distribution of disinformation and other manipulative material in connection with the political scene in Serbia, as well as the fact that an increasing number of citizens are informed on social networks, it is necessary that the obligation to cooperate with the companies that own these networks be included within the competence of the REM or RATEL, in order to ensure that during pre-election periods those companies undertake actions to identify and suppress the spread of election-related content that contains disinformation or manipulative content, and proactively find actors who frequently spread misinformation about the elections, and monitor the coordinated actions of bots related to the elections.
- Improve the citizens’ resilience to disinformation and other media manipulations in the long term, including their resilience to disinformation in the election process
The CRTA report on the April 2022 elections indicates a significant presence of disinformation and other media manipulations in the media. Their influence on the course and outcomes of the election process, as well as their general influence, will depend on the ability of citizens to critically evaluate media content, i.e. on the level of their media literacy.
Although the Strategy for the Development of the Public Information System in the Republic of Serbia for the Period 2020-2025 recognises the necessity of developing media literacy, it does not include information literacy in that term, it does not recognise non-state actors as actors in measures to improve literacy, nor continuous and informal education as formats for long-term solutions to this problem. In this sense, in cooperation with media associations and other civil society organisations, this Strategy needs to be harmonised with the UNESCO’s Media and Informational Literacy: Policy and Strategy Guidelines. At the same time, the activities for the implementation of the measures foreseen in the Strategy must be specified in terms of content and deadlines, whereas the parameters for monitoring their success must be clearly defined, which is not the case in the existing Action Plan. It is, therefore, necessary to improve action planning for the implementation of the Strategy and to ensure transparency and monitoring of its implementation in cooperation with media associations and other civil society organisations.
Alternatively, bearing in mind that Serbia does not have a separate strategic plan dedicated exclusively to the improvement of media literacy, instead of amending the existing documents the ministries in charge of culture and information could launch an initiative to adopt a Media Literacy Strategy based on the UNESCO’s recommendations, which will be preceded by a broad consultative process.
* Recommendation #9b. is based on the findings of Zec, M. (2021). Compliance of defining the development of media literacy within the “Strategy for the Development of the Public Information System in the Republic of Serbia for the Period 2020-2025” with the recommendations of the international organsation UNESCO for the development of the media and information literacy: policy and strategy guidelines. CM Communication and media, 16(49), 253-279.
