On December 4, 2024, digital rights advocates from across the Balkans converged in Tirana for the annual BIRN Digital Rights Conference. This gathering underscored the urgency of addressing mounting challenges in the digital sphere—ranging from unchecked legislation to Big Tech indifference—and provided a platform to share solutions for safeguarding freedoms that transcend national boundaries.
The State of Digital Rights in the Balkans
Eva Bavčić’s presentation of the BIRN Digital Rights Violations Annual Report set the tone for the conference, highlighting critical trends: legislative overreach, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, escalating hate speech, gender-based violence, and tech-facilitated election interference. Participants shared strikingly similar stories of shadow bans, arbitrary content restrictions, and localised negligence by global tech giants, underscoring the pressing need for region-specific solutions.
Legislation Without Consultation
One recurring concern was the hasty adoption of EU-inspired legislation across candidate countries. These laws, often implemented without public discussion or consultation with relevant stakeholders, risk becoming instruments of suppression rather than safeguards of rights. This lack of transparency and inclusivity in law-making processes diminishes their effectiveness and alienates the communities they are supposed to protect.
Big Tech’s Regional Impact
Big Tech’s inconsistent engagement in the Balkans emerged as a pressing issue. Participants lamented the inadequate localisation of services and arbitrary censorship—epitomised by Meta’s actions around the Srebrenica Genocide anniversary, when accounts and content were banned or shadow-banned without sufficient context or recourse. Turkey’s leverage as a market of 80 million users was contrasted against the broader region’s struggles to prompt swift responses to grievances.
Turkey’s experience with tech companies highlighted the perils of unchecked compliance with governmental demands. Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, renamed X, the platform has shown a 60% compliance rate with Turkish government requests, leading to the removal of over 10,000 pieces of content and the withholding of numerous accounts. Additionally, abrupt bans on platforms like Instagram, triggered by governmental pressure, and the access blocking orders targeting platforms such as Discord and Roblox, illustrate the precarious state of digital freedoms.
Turkey as a Cautionary Tale
Having covered the decline of internet freedoms in Turkey in the last five years for the Freedom House’s annual Freedom on the Net report’s Turkey chapter, I gave an overview of the political and legislative background in Turkey’s digital sphere during the conference. My presentation highlighted the evolution of Law No. 5651 from its ostensible purpose of protecting children online into a tool of draconian control. Over the past decade, amendments have granted the law expansive powers such as access blocking, content removal, and intrusion into tech companies’ databases. The so-called “right to be forgotten” has further undermined public accountability by enabling the erasure of critical information, depriving future generations of the ability to learn from past mistakes.
Participants also discussed Turkey’s Disinformation Law and the impending Foreign Influence Agents Law, both of which pose existential threats to civil society and independent media. These laws are emblematic of a broader trend in the region, where legislation is crafted in isolation, without adequate scrutiny or consultation, and often mirrors the suppression mechanisms of authoritarian regimes.
Passing of the Disinformation Law
During the conference, I recounted an anecdote from the 2022 annual media freedom mission. While the Disinformation Law was being debated in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, representatives of media freedom organisations met with AKP’s then-chair of the parliamentary committee on human rights, Hakan Çavuşoğlu. He assured us that the law would “never target journalists” and would instead “force the hand of journalists to investigate facts more thoroughly.” Yet, in the two years since its enactment, dozens of journalists have been targeted, with some even convicted under this legislation.
Targeting Civil Society and Independent Media
Turkey’s “law to combat financing of the spreading of weapons of mass destruction,” introduced in 2020, exemplifies how legislation can be weaponised against civil society. Ostensibly aimed at combating illicit financing, this law has been used to justify extensive audits and even the appointment of government trustees to the boards of independent organisations. The impending Foreign Influence Agents Law threatens to take this repression even further, criminalising links to foreign organisations and imperilling the very existence of independent civil society and media in Turkey.
Regional Lessons and Common Challenges
The conference revealed that many Balkan countries face eerily similar challenges rooted in their shared Ottoman legacy. Laws designed to stifle dissent echo practices from centuries ago, updated for the digital age. Turkey’s draft Foreign Influence Agents Law, harsher than Georgia’s controversial “Russian Law,” could serve as a blueprint for authoritarian tendencies in the region.
Recommendations: Building a Resilient Future
To counter these threats, the conference underscored the importance of resilience and multistakeholder collaboration:
- Advocacy for Inclusive Law-Making: Governments must engage civil society, media, and technical experts in drafting and debating legislation to ensure laws serve their intended purpose.
- Enhancing Regional Cooperation: Cross-border initiatives can pool resources and expertise, creating a united front against shared challenges like censorship and digital suppression.
- Demanding Accountability from Big Tech: Localisation of services and transparent moderation policies tailored to regional contexts must be prioritised.
- Public Awareness Campaigns: Educating citizens about their digital rights can empower them to challenge overreach and safeguard freedoms.
The BIRN Digital Rights Conference in Tirana was a powerful reminder that digital rights are human rights, essential for fostering democracy and safeguarding freedoms. As the Balkans confront an increasingly fraught digital landscape, the region’s strength lies in its solidarity. By amplifying shared experiences and pushing for systemic change, a brighter, freer digital future is within reach.
