Citizens’ Association (CA) “Why not” presents the publication “Integrity of information during the election campaign in the online space”

CA “Why Not” publishes a publication with the findings from its monitoring of the online space during the 2024 Local Elections campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with recommendations for the next steps.

During the campaign for the Local Elections held in October 2024 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the team from the CA “Why not” conducted monitoring focused on politicians, media, and very large online platforms.

The goal of the monitoring was to identify potentially harmful election-related content on very large online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok and report such content to the platforms in accordance with their own rules. Very large online platforms have sets of internal rules that govern the moderation of published content, defined through their terms of use and community standards. After reporting, the response of each platform was tracked, with a focus on their responsiveness, transparency, and consistency.

In addition to the rules defined by online platforms, CA “Why not” also examined the extent to which certain amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina – imposed in March 2024 by the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, just a few months before the election campaign – were being respected.

The research conducted by the CA “Why not” identified numerous violations of the Election Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as passivity and lack of transparency in the actions of online platforms.

Very large online platforms and recommendations for further steps

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in other Western Balkan countries, very large online platforms remain completely unregulated, with no legal obligation to respond to illegal and harmful content or to adhere to transparency standards. Therefore, the need to introduce a certain level of obligations and establish accountability for these platforms is undeniable.

The European Union has introduced legislation, such as the Digital Services Act, specifically to address these issues. Proper and effective alignment of domestic laws with the Digital Services Act could lead to significant progress in these areas.

The publication “Integrity of information during the election campaign in the online space” by CA “Why not” presents the findings from the monitoring process and provides recommendations for domestic institutions and decision-makers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, very large online platforms, as well as civil society in BiH.

 

You can read the full publication at the THIS link.