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Emotional ties and propaganda: The Russian “Soft power” in the Balkans

Russian media Sputnik and RT (Russia Today) Balkans operating in Serbia, are used as propaganda tools by Putin’s Russia and represent Russian “soft power” in the region. This propaganda from Moscow, disseminated through the contents published by both Russian media outlets and republished by...

The World Health Organization is not killing children in Gaza

Phото: who.int It is not true that the World Health Organization is killing children in Gaza. On the contrary, WHO representatives are constantly delivering medical and non-medical aid to Gaza, where hospitals have been demolished and conditions for medical treatment are dreadful. WHO collects donations...

Truthmeter’s response to the latest disinformation campaign against their website and newsroom

What can be noted from this disinformation campaign – just like in the previous ones – is the lack of argumentation on the side of those attacking, related to possible errors, oversight, or inaccuracy expressed by Truthmeter’s editorial staff to justify the criticism and...

No other solution for the whooping cough but the vaccine

Children who haven’t been vaccinated should not go to kindergartens if we want to avoid epidemics that threaten the health and life of both children and seniors. This is the position of the epidemiologists who insist on vaccinating the population, in compliance with the...

It “stinks” when 800 million euro strategic investments are approved in a fast procedure

The public in North Macedonia is stunned by the recent debate regarding the legal framework of four strategic investments in the energy sector worth approximately 800 million euros, not by its merit, but by the merit of the Government. Investment intentions were expressed by...

From Alaska via Putin and Moscow to the Balkans and finally to North Macedonia

PHOTO: Collage: Vladimir Putin, screenshot/YoutTube; map of Alaska, public domain Facebook posts are spreading disinformation regarding Putin’s latest decree according to which Alaska, the Baltic countries, Tibet, and other territories that historically belonged to the USSR and Imperial Russia will be retrieved back. The fake...

The alleged Nazism in Kyiv still the subject of Russian disinformation

Several disinformation narratives have prevailed this year in the Macedonian-language online space and media – from Ukraine’s “statehood being at stake” should the war continue, to the claim that Zelenskyy has lost popularity. The most consistent disinformation narrative, however, concerns the connection between Kyiv...

Serbian tabloids “toppled” North Macedonia’s Kovachevski-led government

Photo: Government of North Macedonia Despite the inaccurate, inflammatory, and nationalistic articles online, North Macedonia’s government was not “toppled”, nor did “the Albanians, slowly but surely, seize the power”. The newly elected government is a so-called technical government, also known as a “Przhino government”, in...

Unwanted imports: Anti-EU Kremlin disinformation rides high in N. Macedonia

Most of the anti-EU Kremlin disinformation in N. Macedonia originate abroad, both in Russia and in the West, and then arrive in the country through the social platforms and some through the internet media. Some of them are then adjusted to the local context,...

A disinformation round “Sofia-Belgrade-Skopje” with a typical Russian flair

The flow of Russian disinformation has become familiar – it starts in Russia, travels to Serbia, and from there, it spreads throughout the entire Western Balkans. In the following case, however, disinformation’s source is in Bulgaria. The avalanche of disinformation started with an episode...

CSOs and experts warn of dangers posed by the new UN cybercrime treaty

A large array of civil society organizations and experts  has called on the state delegations participating in the concluding session of the United Nations (UN) Ad Hoc Committee to ensure that the proposed Cybercrime Convention is narrowly focused on tackling cybercrime, and not used...

German defence minister warns Ukraine war could expand

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius warned that the war between Russia and Ukraine could expand beyond the neighbouring countries, publishes dpa news agency. "We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day - most recently again against our friends in the Baltic states," Pistorius told...

There is no evidence that Ukraine is losing 30,000 troops per month in the war with Russia

Photo: ukrinform.net Ukraine’s former Public Prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, is spreading unconfirmed data regarding the number of killed and wounded Ukrainian troops. In fact, in his own statement he calls upon authorities in Ukraine to publish the accurate data of wounded soldiers, thereby tacitly admitting that...

The trust of the Ukrainians in Zelenskyy is not at 42%

Source: ukrinform.net There is no publicly accessible opinion poll in Ukraine which shows that the trust in the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is 42 percent. Research by the Kyiv International Institute for Sociology shows that the public trust in Zelenskyy is 62 percent. However,...

Interviews, newspaper sections, shows and columns – The growing presence of China in the media in North Macedonia

Collage of photographs by Meta.mk   TV shows, newspaper sections dedicated to China, columns and interviews of the Chinese Ambassador to North Macedonia, as well as promoting and publishing media content from leading Chinese media that are under the direct control of the Chinese Communist Party....

CRTA: Results of the Belgrade elections largely stemmed from illegal electoral engineering

Based on the information gathered and the analyses conducted thus far, the CRTA Election Observation Mission expresses a well-founded suspicion that in the elections on December 17, organized voter migrations occurred to an extent that crucially influenced the outcome of the very close elections...

The disinformation coupled with abuse of artificial intelligence can be harmful to the elections

The last session of today’s e-Society.mk International Conference, which has been organized by Metamorphosis Foundation for the 19th time this year, was dedicated to the issue of disinformation and abuse of artificial intelligence for malign influence on democracy or, more specifically, on the elections...

INTERVIEW Gojković-Arbutina: The non-governmental organizations in R. Srpska will be designated foreign agents by law

Criminalizing once again the insult and slander, designating all non-governmental organizations that receive foreign donations (including the organizations working in journalism) as “agents of foreign influence” and establishing a Media Register, where the state decides who may or may not perform a journalistic activity. These...

Metamorphosis Foundation is establishing a Coalition For Responsible Artificial Intelligence in North Macedonia

Photo: Meta.mk, 19 December 2023 Metamorphosis Foundation launched a process of establishing a Coalition For Responsible Artificial Intelligence, that will include stakeholders from several sectors, informed Bardhyl Jashari, Executive Director of the Foundation, closing this year’s edition of the international conference “e-Society.mk”, which was organized...

Bojana Zorić: Media literacy is crucial in addressing the problem of foreign interference, the youth is a critical voice in addressing the security challenges

The security problems in the Western Balkans are now also related to disinformation and fake news which try to destabilize the region and may hinder realization of the most important strategic objectives in the Western Balkans. On this topic and others, Portalb.mk conducted an...