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Stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina gather towards the building of a national coalition for freedom of expression online and content moderation
“National multistakeholder coalitions are a building block for developing a robust cooperation and dialogue between local civil society and social media platforms to advance the localization of content moderation, while promoting freedom of expression,” said Roberta Taveri, Media Freedom Senior Programme Officer at . “Many challenges of content moderation come from the lack of understanding of complexities of the local social, linguistic, political, and cultural contexts. There is no better way than bringing this understanding to platforms and defending the interests and rights of local communities through a single channel. For that reason, it was thrilling to see the commitment of stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina and join fruitful discussions towards this goal.”
Under its project “” funded by the European Union, UNESCO convened a 2-day gathering of stakeholders from Bosnia and Herzegovina in discussions aimed at building a national multistakeholder coalition on freedom of expression online and content moderation. The retreat, organized on 23 and 24 May 2023, took place in Bjelasnica, where the stakeholders brainstormed over the future coalition’s Memorandum of Understanding and activities.
The establishment of the coalition in Bosnia and Herzegovina is supported by the UNESCO project in partnership with ARTICLE 19. The process of building the coalition was kickstarted following up on undertaken as part of the project.
This research, conducted by ARTICLE 19, examined how social media platforms address the issue of harmful content in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in particular the efficiency and gaps of their approaches, policies, and tools. The need for bridging the disconnect between social media platforms, that are not physically present in the country, and the local civil society was identified as a priority that could be solved through the creation of a multistakeholder coalition on content moderation and freedom of expression.
Moreover, the research showed that the current efforts of civil society organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina to curb online harmful content were not sufficiently coordinated and often resulted in the creation of knowledge silos and hidden expertise.
Coordinated efforts are crucial for countering harmful content online because stakeholders with different expertise can bring their unique perspectives for the development of effective solutions towards a safer and healthier online environment.
Earlier this year, the stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina had the opportunity to participate in capacity-building activities aimed at strengthening the knowledge of the members of the future coalition on content moderation, international standards of freedom of expression, and coalition governance. Organized on 16 February and 14 March 2023 in cooperation with the Media Centre from Sarajevo, the training workshops were led by experts from ARTICLE 19.
The launching of the national multistakeholder coalition in Bosnia and Herzegovina is planned for June 2023. The project “Social Media 4 Peace” also supported the launching of two other national coalitions, in Kenya and Indonesia – where the project is implemented.
