Gong believes that social media is becoming an increasingly important part of election campaigns, which was marked this year by inauthentic actions of fake profiles and bots, as well as defamation campaigns. Such practices pose a persistent threat to the quality of democratic processes as they undermine electoral integrity and raise doubts about the validity of election results. This is precisely why the EU adopted the Digital Services Act, which seeks to prevent illegal and harmful activities on the internet and the spread of disinformation to protect citizens.
Regarding the newly published research by the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), which points to the presence of a coordinated network of pro-Russian fake profiles supporting Zoran Milanović, Gong believes the analysis has certain shortcomings, that cast doubt on its quality, and the systematic nature of its research methods.
At the beginning of the analysis, it is stated that a comprehensive analysis of social media (Facebook, X, Telegram, Reddit, TikTok) was conducted for both presidential candidates—Zoran Milanović and Dragan Primorac—as well as websites from December 4th to January 4th. However, the research does not mention the bots linked to Dragan Primorac's TikTok account, which the platform had identified and removed—a fact that was publicly available during the observation period. In other words, it is unclear how the research failed to detect 7.500 bots that TikTok removed ahead of the first round of the presidential election, a fact reported by numerous media outlets.
Furthermore, the research is anonymous, as its authors are not identified, and the methodology is insufficiently explained. It does not contain information on the number of observed accounts or posts used for the network analysis on the X platform. The analysis of Facebook comments does not specify the number of fake profiles identified, stating only that there were “many.” The research provides no evidence that this is a coordinated and organized bot operation, which was the critical issue with the fake profiles Meta removed from HDZ's Facebook account. Additionally, some of the selected examples raise suspicions of cherry-picking—that is, selectively choosing examples to generalize conclusions.
For example, the X account of Darko Lesinger is described in the research as exhibiting bot-like behavior, and pretending to be located in Zagreb. However, Darko Lesinger is indeed a real person—a journalist and photographer from Zagreb—which is publicly available information. The research also mentions that alternative Croatian media outlets with a history of publishing disinformation about the war in Ukraine, such as Maxportal, support Zoran Milanović. However, by reviewing their Facebook posts, it is evident that Maxportal criticizes Milanović, calling him a “communist,” and republishes HDZ statements urging voters to support Dragan Primorac. The research cites an article titled “Kolinda and Milanović Finally Photographed Together After a Long Time” as evidence of Maxportal's support for Milanović, though it is unclear how this indicates endorsement.
Additional doubts about the research arise from the fact that the initiative for publishing the report came from Croatia, specifically from researchers who chose not to sign the report. This raises suspicions that the research is not independent, even though it was initially presented as such.
Gong has requested additional clarifications from CIR regarding the methodology of this research, as well as more information from digital platforms about their knowledge of the actions of the mentioned network of fake profiles. As an update to this article (January 1st at 2PM), Gong received a response from X, which states that they "investigated the claims made in the article and found no evidence of inauthentic accounts or bots influencing the Croatian election. Our Safety teams remain vigilant against any attempts to manipulate the conversation surrounding the Croatian elections on X and are closely monitoring any potential systemic risks."
Let us recall that during the parliamentary elections, we uncovered bot activity on HDZ's Facebook account, and Meta confirmed and linked the activity of over 150 fake profiles to members of HDZ Youth, which were subsequently removed. For these presidential elections, Faktograf highlighted thousands of fake profiles following Dragan Primorac's TikTok account, which TikTok later deleted.