Disinformation campaign marked by anti-Montenegrin narrative

The first round of the presidential elections was followed by an intense disinformation campaign, which was mainly directed against the candidate of the Democratic Socialist Party, Milo Đukanović, and the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Draginja Vuksanović-Stanković, according to Pobjeda’s interviewees, Nina Đuranović, a researcher at the Raskrinkavanje platform, and Marko Banović, an analyst at the Digital Forensic Centre.

Both DFC and Raskrinkavanje monitored social media and media posts during the election day and provided timely warnings about disinformation.

The editors of CDT’s Raskrinkavanje platform noticed several posts in the media and on social networks that were not correct and targeted DPS and SDP candidates. These were fringe portals from Serbia, especially Nacionalist, which published fake news every five minutes during election day, Đuranović told Pobjeda.

The aim of the fake news published, she added, is to raise tensions and recalled that among the series of misinformation are those that the police arrested activists of a certain party, that the mayor of Podgorica, Ivan Vuković, was beaten.

On the other hand, Đuranović said, Montenegrin mainstream media report professionally, filtering accurate and relevant information.

During the disinformation campaign, which was represented in the run-up to the elections, as well as on the day of the elections, an anti-Montenegro narrative prevailed, which was often present in tabloids and some television stations in Serbia. The narrative of the victory of the Democratic Front candidate, even before it was known who would be running alongside him in the electoral race, cannot be ignored – Đuranović stressed.

She also assessed that, given the importance of the presidential elections, the influence of some regional media in creating the narrative that characterised the electoral process was evident.

Regional media, especially from Serbia, favoured one presidential candidate, while others appeared almost exclusively in a negative context in the coverage of these media, Đuranović said.

DFC analyst Marko Banović, on the other hand, said that they have noticed an increase in disinformation in the media and on social networks.

Throughout the campaign, we had fake opinion polls published almost every day in some media in Montenegro, as well as on social networks, Banović recalled.

On the day of the elections, he added, the DFC monitored social networks and media in Montenegro and the region in order to detect and suppress the spread of disinformation and fake news.

Most of the disinformation on election day came from portals in Serbia – Nacionalist, Naša borba, Glas javnosti and Vaseljenska. These portals spread disinformation and fake news in synchronised fashion throughout the day. In4s also published several texts from these portals – explained Banovic.

He also pointed out that the main targets of these portals are DPS candidate Milo Đukanović and SDP candidate Draginja Vuksanović-Stanković.

The key narratives were “the fall of the Milo Đukanović regime” and “the link of the DPS and Đukanović to crime and corruption”. It should be noted that the media monitoring carried out by the DFC before the elections showed that similar or identical narratives are constantly being published in the pro-Serb media in Montenegro, Banović stressed.

These examples, he said, only represent a continuity of Serbia’s interference in the electoral processes in Montenegro.

We had identical examples during the parliamentary elections in 2020, as well as in some local elections – stated the interlocutor of Pobjeda./Pobjeda/