{"id":13140,"date":"2025-07-04T15:31:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T13:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/?p=13140"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:49:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:49:43","slug":"disinformation-trends-and-narratives-in-the-western-balkan-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/disinfo\/disinformation-trends-and-narratives-in-the-western-balkan-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Disinformation trends and narratives in The Western Balkan Region"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/metamorphosis.org.mk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/disinformation-trends-and-narratives-in-the-western-balkan-region-media-monitoring-report-january%E2%80%93-march-2025-3.pdf\">During the period from January to March 2025<\/a>, the Western Balkans information ecosystem experienced waves in well-coordinated and emotionally charged disinformation campaigns. These campaigns were strategically focused on tragic events and public crises, using them to provoke outrage, undermine trust in institutions, and revive old anti-Western sentiments. Disinformation actors framed these crises as symptoms of a deeper collapse linked to Western influence or neglect and failure of democracy to deliver a functional system.<\/p>\n<p>One key trigger was the suspension of U.S. foreign assistance, including the work of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to several countries, which foreign malign actors interpreted as a sign the West was stepping back from engagement in geopolitical developments. Disinformation networks seized this moment to push the narrative that Western support is inconsistent, politically motivated, and ultimately self-serving. Russian-aligned actors amplified this message to stoke divisions and feed into growing skepticism about Western intentions.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the Ukraine war was no longer top headline news, it remained central to disinformation efforts. Old tropes resurfaced, false claims about Nazism, distorted portrayals of Ukraine\u2019s President Zelensky and misleading peace narratives. Russian officials played an active role in the discourse, particularly around Kosovo-Serbia tensions, positioning Russia as Serbia`s more reliable strategic ally than the EU or NATO. Most mainstream Balkan media continue to quote their statements containing disinformation without verification.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Click here to access the full document:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/metamorphosis.org.mk\/wp-content\/themes\/metamorphosis\/download.php?id=46482\">DISINFORMATION TRENDS AND NARRATIVES IN THE WESTERN BALKAN REGION, MEDIA MONITORING REPORT JANUARY-MARCH 2025<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the period from January to March 2025, the Western Balkans information ecosystem experienced waves in well-coordinated and emotionally charged disinformation campaigns. These campaigns were strategically focused on tragic events and public crises, using them to provoke outrage, undermine trust in institutions, and revive old anti-Western sentiments. Disinformation actors framed these crises as symptoms of [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":13141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[363,857],"tags":[1069,2581,2580,2579],"ppma_author":[28],"class_list":["post-13140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disinfo","category-punime","tag-disinfo","tag-mediamonitoring","tag-narratives","tag-trends"],"authors":[{"term_id":28,"user_id":18,"is_guest":0,"slug":"disinfo","display_name":"Disinfo","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sbunker_FAKE_NEWS_001-min1647858578.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sbunker_FAKE_NEWS_001-min1647858578.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"Disinfo","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13142,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13140\/revisions\/13142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13140"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=13140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}