May 2025
Three decades after the wars and political crises of the nineties, the Balkans are entering a new phase of competition. Instead of trenches and peace accords, the fight for control of information dominated. The region is circulated by narratives that fit the global media flows, social networks, and the dependence of political elites on digital platforms. From Belgrade to Sarajevo, from Skopje to Podgorica, the public space functions as a network without a stable protocol, where the truth becomes only one of the packages.
The former “information war” develops into a structured architecture of influence set in motion by the algorithm policies. It links all domestic communication strategies, foreign information operations, and technological mechanisms that manage content visibility. Thus, the Balkans are becoming a sensitive node between the East and the West, where each geopolitical shift opens up a new layer of narratives. The encryption of power is also seen in the way messages are shaped, data is filtered, and public discourse is being managed.
The propaganda infrastructure is no longer centralized. It consists of pro-government media systems, portals financed by foreign funds, and digital activists acting in the grey zone, between marketing and political actions. The system is modular and adaptive. In Serbia, despite foreign pressures and campaigns targeting state institutions, the media apparatus functions as a mechanism of preservation of institutional stability and public order. The state narratives tend to balance security priorities and political cohesion, thus reducing the space for destabilization. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, each entity is forming its own information ecosystem, while in Montenegro and North Macedonia, social networks are becoming the primary field of manipulation, often under the influence of foreign actors that treat the region as a testing platform for their hybrid campaigns.
This model functions in three layers. The political layer legitimizes the government and delegitimizes the opposition. The media layer determines what comes into play as a reality. The technological layer, led by algorithmic models and artificial intelligence models, awards content that creates impulses, and not explanations. The result is fragmentation of the public space. The facts become selective, and all deviation is seen as a signal of enemy actions.
In such an ambiance, the global actors are strengthening their presence. Russia is using the narrative of the protection of Slavic and Orthodox Christian “infrastructure of identity”. The West is promoting the idea of democracy, even though often through mechanisms that create a new layer of ideological noise. Turkey is acting through cultural and religious channels, while China is building its influence through economic and technological instruments, especially in the fields of telecommunications and investment. The digital sovereignty of the region, therefore, is often conditioned by outer regional interests and software architectures that are not designed locally. For Serbia, maintaining technological autonomy and the control of key infrastructure represent central security priorities.
The local elites are combining foreign narratives with their own matrix of power. This is why there is a parallel spread of calls to European values and to insisting on the defense of traditional identities, based on current needs. Up until 2025, the Balkans will function as an experimental space for the application of artificial intelligence systems in political communication. Bot networks, automated campaigns, and deepfake models become standard instruments. Contents that seem authentic, but optimized to destabilize, are being generated. The public is being faced with information packages that seem real, but are designed as simulations.
The traditional media are no longer guarantees of credibility. Many participate in the spread of semi-information, while smaller independent media function under pressure and with limited resources. In such an environment, a question arises: How can we construct resilience to manipulation? This calls for strengthening media literacy, transparent media ownership, regulation of digital platforms that would not smother the freedom of speech, and regional cooperation directed towards suppressing campaigns that surpass state borders. For Serbia, an additional challenge is the protection of national institutions from targeted discretization and the defense of the stability of the state system in the digital space.
Without these instruments, the Balkans remain the grey zone of truth. A space where the power is coded through encryption of messages, digital sovereignty is sliding towards servers owned by foreign companies, and political stability relies on the infrastructure that does not belong to the region. In such a system, the truth stops being a moral category and becomes the issue of security and sustainability of democracy, as well as a test of the ability of countries to protect their own stability.
Author: Aleksandar Stanković