- The Instagram account of the weekly "Vreme" on October 20 is in about half an hour it followed more than 200 accounts that are suspected to be fake, and the account of Beta agency in a few minutes about 300.
- The same problem was reported by Vreme, Beta, CRTA, Kompas, Mašina, Cenzolovka, Glas Šumadije, Zbor Zvezdara, Autonomija Info, Razglas News, Voice and Radio 021.
- It is the second wave of such attacks: the first one started on September 26th, and the SHARE Foundation states that more than 30 accounts were targeted at the time.
- It is not known who is behind the attack, and most media outlets have reported the problem to Meta.
What happened
On Tuesday, October 20, the account of the weekly "Vreme" was followed by more than 200 accounts in about half an hour (from 18:00 to 18:30), and the account of Beta in a few minutes by about 300. The same attacks that day were reported by CRTA, Kompas, Mašina, Cenzolovka, Glas Šumadije, Zbor Zvezdara, Autonomija Info, Razglas News, Voice and Radio 021.
Autonomija Info has announced that its profile has been followed by a large number of bot accounts, that it has reported the problem to Meta and that, if the attack continues, it will switch the account to "private" until the danger passes.
CRTA invited followers to follow her backup account @nastranidemokratije, and Zbor Zvezdara temporarily locked the profile. The portal 021.rs was also attacked on Facebook, where it gained 57.000 new followers in a few days, while 22.000 disappeared at the same time.
According to previous experiences, the mechanism is such that applications are sent to a buried account at the same time, which temporarily blocks it, and the system can also limit it due to unrealistically fast growth in the number of followers. Beta estimates that this could make it impossible for her to communicate through that channel during the election.
The attacks come in waves.
This is the second wave of such attacks since the beginning of the election campaign in Serbia. PThe first wave began on September 26, and the SHARE Foundation states that since then more than 30 accounts have been targeted, so the list given by name is probably incomplete. Masina's Instagram profile was followed by about 10.000 suspicious accounts, and her backup account @masina.video was soon attacked.
The Kompas-info profile was followed by more than 1.500 accounts in 15 minutes, and the targets were Radar, 021, Forbes and local media.
Activist Jelena Riznić, photojournalist Gavrilo Andrić, influencers Brat Pelin and Veselen, Strahinja Ćalović, official accounts of Students in Blockade and FDU Students in Blockade, singer Ivana Peters and Women's Solidarity were also attacked.
Actor Ammar Mešić had his profile shut down in an earlier wave, and he claims to have received over 10.000 submissions, while SHARE's account began gaining hundreds of followers on September 29 after posting a call for follower data. NUNS warned that bot attacks threaten the public's right to be informed.
A similar case happened on August 26 with the Bez censure portal, whose account was suspended after several days of reports for alleged copyright infringement, which the editors claim are false and organized. The Instagram account of Student List holder Ilija Srdanović was blocked on September 20 and October 16, and he believes that it is probably a bot attack.
Why is this important?
Instagram is an important channel to the audience for many independent media and organizations, so blocking accounts in the last week of the campaign can deprive them of communication with citizens when the demand for information is the highest. The media and government critics and independent observers are also targets, which journalist associations see as an attack on the public's right to be informed.
For influencers, Instagram profiles are the platform on which they work and make money, so their existence is threatened due to such attacks.
Solving the problem depends primarily on the platform, because applications are processed by Meta, the company that owns the Facebook and Instagram networks. It is important for the audience to know that sources of information are under pressure and to follow backup orders.
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