Report Launch -Social Media and the Information War in the Balkans
To mark the launch of its second report, Social Media and the Information War in the Balkans, the Balkan Free Media Initiative (BFMI) is hosting a discussion on how the spread of disinformation on social media has helped consolidate the power of authoritarian leaders in Serbia and the semi-autonomous region of Republika Srpska, contributing to the destabilisation of the region.
The event will be held on Tuesday 17 May at 14.00 GMT at the Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ.
If you would like to attend online please register here. If you would like to attend in person, please email info@balkanfreemedia.org
Speakers:
· Edward Lucas, Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and former Senior Editor at The Economist
· Peter Horrocks, BFMI International Advisory Board Member and Former Director of BBC World Service
· Milena Popović, Editor-in-Chief of Istinomer (Serbian fact-checking organisation)
· Antoinette Nikolova, Director BFMI (moderator)
Speakers’ short bios are available below
Background:
While social media platforms have improved access to information, the negative consequences of their misuse are growing. As Europe experiences its most serious crisis since the end of the Second World War in the form of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the role of these platforms in the wider information war can no longer be ignored.
This is especially important in the Balkans, a region where Russian influence is keenly felt. BFMI’s report examines the destabilizing effects of social media in two key places in the Balkans: Serbia and Republika Srpska, the majority Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The leaders of both – President Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia and President Milorad Dodik in Republika Srpska – are key allies of Vladimir Putin in Europe. Social media has been weaponized by their ruling parties to consolidate political power. There can now be no doubt that this is compromising the information environment in the Western Balkans and could even contribute to the decline of the security situation in the region.
This panel will examine some of the critical issues related to the manipulation of social media in the Western Balkans, as well as potential proactive steps that can be taken by social media companies, policymakers and civil society to protect social media as a space where political debate and independent media can thrive.
Speaker Bios:
Edward Lucas is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and a columnist for The Times.
He was formerly a senior editor at The Economist and has covered Central and Eastern European affairs since 1986, writing, broadcasting, and speaking on the politics, economics, and security of the region. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, and the Baltic states, and is an internationally recognized expert on subversion, the use and abuse of history, and information warfare.
In 2021, he turned to politics and is a prospective candidate for the Liberal Democrats in the Cities of London and Westminster.
He is the author of five books: The New Cold War (2008); Deception (2011); The Snowden Operation (2014), Cyberphobia (2015) and Spycraft Rebooted (2018). He tweets as @edwardlucas.
Peter Horrocks is a broadcast executive and a Member of the Content Board of Ofcom, the UK’s broadcasting and telecommunications regulator.
He enjoyed a distinguished 33-year career with the BBC, culminating in five years as Director of the BBC World Service. His other BBC roles included editor of flagship BBC programmes Newsnight and Panorama, Head of Multimedia, Head of TV News and Head of BBC Current Affairs.
In 2019, Horrocks joined the independent editorial oversight board of N1, one of the leading providers of independent news in Serbia and other countries in the Western Balkans.
He is also a member of BFMI’s International Advisory Board. He Tweets as @PeterHorrocks.
Milena Popović is Editor-in-Chief of Istinomer. Founded in 2009, Istinomer was the first fact-checking outlet in the Western Balkan region.
Today, Istinomer plays a crucial role in fact-checking content on social media and operates as a third-party fact-checker for Meta.
Prior to joining Istinomer, Milena worked as a journalist in Serbia for 8 years where she was awarded the “Golden Nike 2015” award for the best reporting published in print at the International Reportage and Media Festival, INTERFER. She Tweets as @MilenaLjPopovic.
Antoinette Nikolova is Director of BFMI. She is a Bulgarian journalist based between Rome and Brussels where she covers European policies focusing on Eastern Europe.
Antoinette has worked for a host of international news organisations over the last 20 years, including Deutsche Welle International, News Corp television stations bTV and SkyItaly, the Bulgarian National Television, TV Nova, the Economist Life and the Brussels-based media network Euractiv. She is also a regular contributor to the Italian broadcaster RAI.
Antoinette began her journalistic career reporting on the aftermath of the wars in the former Yugoslavia. As a member of the Board of the Foreign Press Association in Italy, she has campaigned for the integrity and independence of journalists. She Tweets as @AntoinetteNikol.
About BFMI
BFMI was founded in April 2021 to campaign for the protection of media freedom and journalists’ rights in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. It monitors developments and informs audiences in Europe and North America about the threats to democracy and peace in the region from the infringement of free media.
