The reaction of the DFC to the attempt of intimidation and disinformation of GP URA

The Digital Forensic Center analyzed the advertising of political parties on the Facebook social network for the local elections in Montenegro, held on October 23, 2022. years. Analysis and official Facebook data precisely show how much money was spent on political marketing from the official pages of local election participants. Also, the research unequivocally indicates that more than 15,000 euros were spent on the newly created Naglasi page exclusively for the promotion and political marketing of GP URA and its candidate. DFC sent an inquiry to GP URA about their political marketing through networks to get more information.

Instead of responding to the request for information from GP URA, which was sent on 29.10, after the publication of our analysis Over 15,000 EUR of unknown origin for the promotion of GP URA on Facebook, on October 31, there was an unargued reaction from the mentioned party. In its address to the public via its official Facebook account, GP URA inappropriately tried to discredit the professional work of DFC based on unequivocally established facts and publicly available data from Facebook.

Not disputing any of the facts from the analysis mentioned above, attacking the professional credibility and freedom of action of the non-governmental sector dedicated to the protection and improvement of democratic processes in Montenegrin society, GP URA inappropriately brought DFC into the context of daily political confrontations.

Their post contained several disinformation: 

1. DFC is in no way connected to any political party, organization, or business entity;
2. Political analyst, Mr. Ljubomir Filipović, has not worked since 2019, nor is he in any other way connected with the work of DFC;
3. In its analysis, the DFC did not make any claim about the illegal spending of GP URA on political marketing in the online space.

We emphasize that this announcement by GP URA is accompanied by the activities of a network of fake profiles, which have been operating on Facebook for months, to raise the visibility of this political entity, which DFC previously wrote.

Using such announcements, GP URA directly tries to discourage and intimidate civil sector representatives who positively contribute to the democratization of Montenegrin society.