Fake Instagram profiles silence critical media and voices in Serbia

Shortly before the synchronized shutdown of Instagram accounts, several media outlets publicly warned about attacks using “bot” profiles

New Instagram profiles, with no followers and only a few posts. This is what almost all the profiles on this social network looked like that, in a coordinated manner and within a short period of time, began following critical media outlets and non-governmental organizations in Serbia.

Following this, the Instagram accounts of these media and organizations were temporarily suspended. The analysis shows that these were fake followers. Journalists’ associations and civil society organizations suspect this was a deliberate action aimed at limiting the reach of media outlets that are not controlled by the authorities.

On January 18, Instagram accounts of more than twenty media outlets, organizations, and individuals in Serbia were suspended or shut down after a sudden surge in followers over a short period of time.

Meta interpreted this as suspicious activity-leading to the suspension or permanent closure of the accounts.

Most of the profiles that were closed or suspended on January 18 were reactivated a day later.

RFE/RL asked Serbia’s High-Tech Crime Prosecutor’s Office whether it was investigating the shutdown of media and civil society accounts on social media, but by the time this article was published, no response had been received.

Meta confirmed to RFE/RL that its teams had restored accounts that were mistakenly suspended. The company also said it is working to identify measures that will prevent similar incidents in the future.

Shortly before the synchronized shutdown of Instagram accounts, several media outlets publicly warned about attacks using “bot” profiles, accounts created by computers to carry out various activities on social networks, such as automated sharing of posts or artificial increases in followers.

Among them was the Nova S portal, which on January 10 reported an unusual rise in followers on its Instagram account. According to data from the public-profile analytics platform Social Blade, within just one day, the portal’s account gained more than 40,000 new followers, without any viral post or increased activity. Just one day later, the account lost 25,000 followers on Instagram.

The Serbian weekly Radar reported on January 13 that, in less than two hours, the number of followers on its account increased by about 8 percent. At the same time, sudden spikes in followers were also recorded on the accounts of Nova S and N1 television stations, as well as the youth-oriented portal Zoomer. This portal identified several accounts that simultaneously followed multiple media profiles in Serbia.

These profiles show a clear structure typical of fake (bot) accounts: they have no followers, were created recently, all posts were made on the first day, and there was no further activity afterward.

Student organizations’ profiles also recorded a large number of new followers, especially those that initiated faculty blockades at the end of 2024 and later organized mass protests against the Serbian government.

In recent months, the Instagram profile “Students in Blockade” has nearly tripled its number of followers, from nearly 400,000 to 1 million. In November 2025, several student profiles were temporarily shut down for this reason.

Since the beginning of the protests, students have used social networks as their main communication channels. Although most media profiles on Instagram showed an immediate increase in followers, this was not the case for all accounts that were closed or suspended.

Data from Social Blade shows that the profile of the organization CRTA did not have any unusual activity or spikes in followers.

Several media organizations condemned the shutdown of the Radar profile, the Nova portal, and other media outlets, calling on authorities to immediately identify who is behind these “bot attacks.”

The Association of Electronic Media (ANEM) described this as “a coordinated action aimed at blocking the profiles of independent and professional media.” According to the association, particular concern lies in the way Meta acted, since all the profiles had a status indicating they did not violate platform rules.

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina stated that these events are not isolated technological incidents, but coordinated attempts at “digital sabotage” targeting independent media that report critically on public issues and events of general interest.

In 2025, Serbia recorded the highest number of attacks against journalists compared to other Western Balkan countries, according to the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists.

Data show that last year, 59 cases of threats to journalists’ safety were recorded in the Western Balkans, 33 of them in Serbia. In a February 2025 report by the international organization Freedom House, Serbia was ranked among the countries with the sharpest decline in media freedom over the past decade. One of the cited reasons was increased control over the media and attacks on journalists, although authorities deny exerting pressure.