The Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), in cooperation with partners, is implementing a pilot project in Montenegro aimed at improving the integrity and electoral process in Montenegro, protecting the right to freedom of expression in the digital space, while respecting the established rules of political advertising during the election campaign, as well as other Facebook standards and rules.

CeMI is the first non-governmental organization in Montenegro that, in cooperation with partners, established a monitoring system through the Crowd Tangle platform. This will enable the collection and processing of those data that may indicate elements of coordinated inauthentic behavior during the election campaign, i.e. hate speech and organized negative campaigns, which are carried out with the aim of discrediting political opponents during the election process.

We are especially pleased with the fact that CeMI will implement the project according to the same methodology previously developed and applied by prestigious institutions, including the Stanford Internet Observatory (USA), the Urbino University (Italy) and the Memo98 organization (Slovakia).

Bearing in mind all the challenges brought by the development of digital technologies and the popularity and influence of social networks on the shaping of public opinion, as well as the fact that due to the specificity of the situation caused by COVID-19, the political campaign of the party is dominantly taking place on social networks, the project will primarily be implemented with the aim of protecting voters and their right to an informed and free choice.

Precisely for this reason, the special focus of CeMI will be on identifying possible foreign influences on the electoral process in Montenegro, and therefore on the free choice and will of the voters, as well as collecting evidence on cases of misuse of state resources in the online space.

CeMI will publish a report on collected data, identified irregularities and steps taken in cooperation with partners in order to prevent such occurrences in the Montenegrin public space, and thereby protect the right of voters to freely choose.

In order to inform the citizens of Montenegro, CeMI will publish a publication on rights and responsibilities in the online space, with an analysis of the existing legal and institutional framework in Montenegro, and the best international practice, as well as an e-brochure on their digital rights and how to protect them. in Montenegro.