2024 Elections: How Did Platforms And Institutions Respond To Harmful Content During The Election Campaign?

Election campaigns are increasingly being conducted on social media platforms. In addition to domestic legislation, actors in the online space are also required to adhere to the rules of each major online platform they operate on. However, the citizens’ association “Zasto ne” (“Why not”) highlighted 119 harmful and illegal pieces of content in nearly 60 articles during the campaign for the local elections. On the other hand, social media platforms where the harmful content was published responded to only 3 reports.

Citizens’ association “Zasto ne” (“Why not”) has been monitoring elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 15 years. Since 2010, the platform Istinomjer.ba has been tracking statements made by public office holders as well as election candidates, verifying their truthfulness and consistency. Istinomjer’s analyses cover everything from political party rallies and their election programs to appearances and statements in traditional media and, in recent years, increasingly on political actors’ social media platforms.

Raskrinkavanje.ba, another fact-checking platform operated by the same association, has been monitoring factual claims in media and on social media platforms since 2017. Raskrinkavanje regularly analyzes and evaluates the accuracy of such claims, while also investigating various harmful phenomena continuously appearing in the public sphere, particularly during election periods. Anonymous pre-election web portals, misuse of interviews for political promotion, violations of election rules on social media platforms, fabrication of public opinion polls, data manipulation, hate speech, and misogyny are just some of these harmful occurrences. Over the years, the primary focus of these two fact-checking platforms has been political and media accountability.

However, with technological advancements and the rise of social media platforms, these platforms play an increasingly significant role in election processes. This is evidenced by the fact that in 2024, the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, imposed amendments to the Election Law that, among other things, partially included social media platforms under regulation. Anonymous web portals were also effectively banned from reporting on elections. Besides domestic legislation, political actors, media, and others active on social media platforms are required to adhere to the rules of each platform. Additionally, the European Union’s Digital Services Act, recently enforced, addresses the management of social media platforms and requires large online platforms to bear legal responsibility for illegal and other harmful content. As Bosnia and Herzegovina is a candidate country for EU membership, it is obligated to incorporate EU regulations into its legislative framework. Thus, during the 2024 Local Election campaign, the Association “Zasto ne” focused not only on media and political accountability but also on the accountability of large online platforms.

During the 2024 Local Election campaign, the platforms Istinomjer and Raskrinkavanje monitored various sources on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok, searching for disinformation, manipulation, and other harmful content defined by domestic legislation and the rules of these large online platforms.

From September 6 to October 5, 2024, Raskrinkavanje tracked the most-read media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina on social media platforms, media which were previously rated for publishing disinformative content, other social media actors with a history of posting misleading content related to the election process, and newly emerging relevant sources. Special attention, considering the imposed changes to the Election Law, was given to reporting by anonymous web portals. Raskrinkavanje monitored whether anonymous web portals from its database of rated sources on Raskrinkavanje.ba reported on the elections and whether new pre-election web portals appeared.

In the same period, Istinomjer monitored the official accounts of major political parties, their local organizations, and the pages and profiles of candidates for municipal mayors and city mayors on social media platforms.

Researchers from both platforms regularly analyzed and evaluated all harmful content encompassed by their methodologies during the election campaign in their articles published on Raskrinkavanje.ba and Istinomjer.ba. Content identified as harmful under the rules and policies of the social media platforms where it was published was also reported directly to those platforms.

Content deemed harmful by large online platforms but not covered by the methodologies of Istinomjer or Raskrinkavanje, such as hate speech, calls to violence, hate symbols, etc. could not be assessed in their analyses. Instead, researchers reported such content directly to the platforms where it was published, following their defined procedures, and analyzed some examples in texts without accuracy ratings.

The findings of this research conducted by the Association “Zasto ne” are published in a series of three analyses.

Candidates and social media platforms

In the first article, “Election Campaign Monitoring: Candidates And Social Media Platforms,” you can learn about harmful content shared on various profiles and pages on social media platforms by election candidates and their parties.

The biggest number of false statements and claims during the campaign was related to socioeconomic topics, used by candidates to promote themselves while discrediting opponents. In addition to false statements by political actors, Istinomjer recorded several instances of glorifying and spreading hateful symbols. You can read more about these examples and the extent to which changes to the Election Law reduced prohibited practices like premature campaigning and spreading false information at this link.

Media and social media platforms

In the second article, “Election Campaign Monitoring: Media And Social Media Platforms”, you can learn what disinformation and other harmful content banned by law were shared by media outlets and users on social media platforms.

In addition to explicitly false claims, Raskrinkavanje noted frequent use of hate speech and misogyny during the election campaign, as well as web portals and social media sources entirely dedicated to running smear campaigns. Despite the imposed changes to the Election Law that prohibited them from reporting on the election process, anonymous web portals continued to do so this year. More details about these findings can be found at this link.

Very large online platforms

All harmful and prohibited content observed by Istinomjer and Raskrinkavanje during the election campaign was regularly reported to the very large online platforms where it was published. In the third article, “Election Campaign Monitoring: Very Large Online Platforms”, you can learn how Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok responded to reports about harmful content related to the Local Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Read more about the efficiency of their reporting and moderation systems in maintaining the integrity of the election process at this link.

 

(Emir Zulejhić)