Global Voices · Citizen media stories about Western Europe

Fact-checkers in North Macedonia have traced the original source of the bribe article and uncovered a complex trail of disinformation spanning at least four countries.

8 August 2019

Dubious CIA plot theory by former Yugoslav army colonel finds a platform in Serbian media

Written by Metamorphosis Foundation · Macedonia

“Fake news, fake media, fake journalists, fake analysts – they have flooded the Serbian media space.”

2 August 2019

Russia's LGBTQ+ community reels after murder of activist Yelena Grigoryeva

Written by Eilish Hart · Russia

Police say Yelena Grigoryeva died in the course of a “domestic dispute” with her killer, but activists dispute that account; her name had recently appeared on a homophobic hit-list.

31 July 2019

As Siberia burns, Russia chokes

Written by Maxim Edwards · Russia

While forest fires are no rarity in Siberia, climate scientists stated that this year’s fires spread particularly aggressively due to a combination of strong winds and the unusually hot summer.

30 July 2019

Disappointment with the West is crucial for growth of pro-Russian narratives in the Balkans, says researcher

Written by Metamorphosis Foundation · Bosnia Herzegovina

"Although all countries in the region have been targets of pro-Russia disinformation efforts recently, there has been no recognition of this trend as a security issue at the political level"

29 July 2019

Threatened with demolition, Albania's National Theatre continues to resist despite a police raid

Written by Alida Karakushi · Albania

In Tirana, an ongoing protest against the planned demolition of the National Theatre reveals deep social and political divisions that polarize the Albanian society.

26 July 2019

Poland's artistic and architectural contributions remembered in 2019 commemoration of the 1963 Skopje earthquake

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Macedonia

This year's annual commemorations of the earthquake include an exhibition in Poland of artworks sent to the city of Skopje by Polish artists in a show of solidarity.

25 July 2019

Media in North Macedonia claim a Russian band has plagiarized a song by Balkan superstar Toše Proeski

Written by Filip Stojanovski · Croatia

A series of online articles in North Macedonia have blamed the Russian rock group Zemlyane for plagiarizing a 2007 song made by authors from Croatia for the late Macedonian pop...

24 July 2019

Poorly regulated and rich in reach: online technologies in Ukraine’s elections

Written by Tetyana Bohdanova · Ukraine

Ukraine’s political life is increasingly lived online. But with political ads and data security poorly regulated, networked politics is open to manipulation.

19 July 2019

Netizen Report: In Nigeria and Russia, laws against online ‘insult’ put internet activists on thin ice

Written by Netizen Report Team · Sub-Saharan Africa

Activists in Nigeria and Russia face charges for "online insult", a Twitter campaign targets "anti-Pakistan" journalists abnd Mauritania’s internet is back on, for now.

18 July 2019

Outrage in Moscow after opposition candidates barred from local election

Written by Maxim Edwards · Russia

State-appointed “handwriting experts” stepped in and discovered palpably absurd reasons to invalidate hundreds of signatures collected in support of independent candidates.

16 July 2019

Kremlin's new law against ‘online disrespect’ proves hard to implement

Written by Maxim Edwards · Russia

The law allows courts to fine or jail people found guilty of making “insulting statements” towards the authorities online.

15 July 2019

The fight against disinformation in Bulgaria is almost nonexistent, says journalist Ivan Georgiev

Written by Metamorphosis Foundation · Bulgaria

"Bulgaria is a border state between the West and the East and it is seen as a weak spot on the European map by the Russian propaganda."

12 July 2019

Moldova's journalists cautiously optimistic after ‘silent revolution’

Written by Maxim Edwards · Moldova

Following inconclusive parliamentary elections, the pro-Russian and pro-EU opposition put their differences aside and formed a government, ousting the ruling party lead by the country's most powerful oligarch.

Pseudoscientific racial theories by discredited British psychologist keep going viral in the Balkans

Written by Metamorphosis Foundation · Croatia

The cyclical spread of pseudoscientific notions about IQs based on race or ethnicity taps into pre-existing stereotypes as well as it reinforces them in this region.