ANEM urges Prosecutor’s Office to investigate email claiming responsibility for media Instagram attacks

The message read: “We told you that we would shut down your social media accounts if you wrote negatively about our president, and we did just that. What can you do, that’s what happens when you know people who work at Meta INC! Keep insulting our President Aleksandar Vucic, and your social media accounts will be shut down every time for spreading disinformation. Insult our president – account gone. Aleksandar Vucic is king, and we can’t wait for him to run for prime minister, he should rule forever!”

ANEM noted that the email’s signature once again misused the names of individuals who have no connection to the case, in a clear attempt to target them.

Veran Matic - Chairman of the ANEM Board, member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, and operator of the Safe Line for journalists - has reported these new developments to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime. A similar email had been sent to the same newsrooms a few days prior, warning that their Instagram profiles would be deactivated.

“This attack was announced, and it is essential to determine whether the person who sent the warning and then the second message claiming to have followed through is actually responsible, or if it was organized by someone else. News in Serbia, as in the rest of the world, has largely shifted from traditional media to platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, and Telegram. In addition to established media outlets with their extensions on social media, we also have highly trusted student-run accounts. There are also youth and student media whose natural environment is social media, and the authorities are constantly trying to find ways to block them,” Matic said.

ANEM is demanding that the relevant authorities investigate these threats, the circumstances surrounding the recent Instagram account shutdowns, and the creation of a fake account impersonating the weekly magazine Radar. In the meantime, ANEM said, the functionality of the affected Instagram accounts has been restored thanks to direct communication between the media outlets and individuals, and Meta.

We recall that a coordinated bot attack led to the suspension or deletion of more than 20 accounts belonging to media outlets, organizations, and individuals, including Nova.rs, Radar, Autonomija, CRTA, and photojournalist Gavrilo Andric. All accounts have been recovered.