February 2025
The Balkans have historically been a crossroads of power, but in the digital world, it has grown into a new type of competition – the one in which conflicts are not waged with weapons, but with data, algorithms, and narratives. Artificial intelligence, initially developed as a tool of technological progress, today functions as a sophisticated mechanism of influence, designed to shape public perception and redirect flows of political energy. In the region that suffers from a weak institutional firewall, limited media autonomy, and fragile political transparency, the effects of this transformation are becoming increasingly visible.
During the course of 2024, we have registered an increase in the use of generative technologies in political communication worldwide, and thus in the Western Balkans as well. From synthetically constructed statements of politicians to deeply simulated video footage, the propaganda system relocated from the media into the digital code. The border between the real and the programmed becomes diluted, and the Balkans – the ideal test-polygon for experimenting with the “algorithm politics”.
The key issue lies not in the technology, but in its application in systems with limited institutional capacities and a partially controlled media environment. In Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia, there is an increasing number of automated profiles distributing content in accordance with the foreign policy interests or local campaigns. These digital channels are not only a means for spreading information; they are the architecture of influence. The algorithms that drive them are learning, adapting, and strengthening polarization with a specific goal. Instead of dialogue, the public space is becoming a network of short circuits between emotion and reaction. Artificial intelligence, thus, becomes the instrument for programming attitudes, and not only the production of false narratives.
In the geopolitical sense, the Balkans function as a peripheral node of the global power network. Russia and China are investing in the media and digital infrastructure of the region, combining technical cooperation with political interest. The West, led by the European Union and the United States, is reacting through attempts at standardization of ethical frameworks and regulations. In practice, the region is between the two models of digital management: the one using encryption of power for stability and the other insisting on transparency as a form of digital sovereignty. The result is the systemic ambiguity in which the artificial intelligence is at the same time used as the means for monitoring and the tool of democratization.
While the European Union is implementing the AI Act fast, the majority of the Western Balkan countries remain without clear protocols of monitoring and verification. The lack of regulatory structures and technical expertise opens up space for unrestricted manipulation of digital content. This “grey zone” is not only a void in the legislation, but also a vulnerable layer in which algorithms take up the role of political operators. The academic and research community in the region still does not have sufficient access to resources and cooperation, which creates dependence on external technological systems and reduces the possibility of the development of domestic solutions. Ironically, exactly this dependence increases the risk from foreign influences and decreases the capacities for the protection of digital sovereignty.
The Balkan experience with algorithm propaganda functions as an early indicator for the rest of Europe. If the institutions do not develop mechanisms of digital resilience, democracy might become a hostage of its own technological evolution. In societies whose political code is already compromised by party interests, artificial intelligence accelerates the existing mistakes in the system. Still, if the region opts for the model of transparency, investment into media literacy and the development of an ethical framework for the application of technology, there is a possibility that the Balkans might become an example of resilience, and not a space for conducting experiments. This is the fundamental dilemma present in 2025 – whether the Balkans will remain the zone for testing someone else’s algorithms of power, or will it write its own digital code.
Author: Aleksandar Stanković