RESHAPING THE ELECTORAL RUN TROUGH THE USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MONTENEGRO – final report

Product Description

Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), in collaboration with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), implemented the 2020 Montenegro Parliamentary Elections Social Media Monitoring Pilot Project aimed at improving the integrity of electoral process in Montenegro, protecting the right to freedom of expression in the digital space, while respecting the established rules of political advertising during the election campaign, as well as other standards and rules of online community, with focus on Facebook.

Given all the challenges posed by the development of digital technologies and the popularity and impact of social networks on shaping the public opinion, as well as the fact that due to the specific situation caused by COVID-19, political campaigns of the parties was predominantly conducted on social networks, the project was implemented primarily with the aim to protect voters and their right to an informed and free choice. The main purpose of the monitoring was on determining online political behaviors and identifying possible deceptive foreign or domestic influence operations during the electoral process in Montenegro, and thus on the free choice and will of voters, but also on documenting cases of abuse of state resources through social media. This Report presents the results of social media monitoring during the period from March till August of 2020. The main objective of the Report was to assess, based on collected data, the manner and rate of usage of social media in political campaigning in Montenegro with particular emphasis on adherence with Facebook Community Standards and digital rights of its users. Conclusions and recommendations, which are based on the identified shortcomings, and which are an integral part of this Report, suggest that the relevant institutions should implement appropriate measures in order to improve integrity of the electoral process in Montenegro.

This Report also presents the logical sequence of the Analytical Paper that was published within this Project as well. The two documents complement each other and together constitute a comprehensive analysis of law and practice. Analytical Paper can be found on the official CeMI website. The Report consists of a brief methodology description that outlines the tools and metrics used for social media monitoring and provides general guidance of the purpose and scope of the project. The collected evidence is presented in the central part of the report, in particular regarding the Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) and Abuse of State Resources (ASR). The final part of the document consists of conclusions and recommendations on how to improve the practice of adherence to the anti-corruption standards of fair elections in Montenegro.

Finally, we would like to express gratitude to our partners for their support in carrying out this phase of the Pilot Project activities relating to social media monitoring during Parliamentary elections, in line with the planned dynamics and methodology. We hope that this fruitful cooperation will continue in the future.