Podgorica, June 18, 2025 - In anticipation of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, a workshop titled "Management of digital platforms and online media in Montenegro" was held at the premises of the UN Eco House in Podgorica, organized by UNESCO and the Partners Serbia organization.

The workshop aimed to present the draft regional study and accompanying draft report for Montenegro, which deal with the existing regulatory framework for social networks and online media, as well as challenges in moderating and managing verified information of public interest in the digital space. The participants had the opportunity to provide comments and suggestions on the recommendations from the draft report, which will be included in the final version of the report, scheduled for publication in July 2025.

The workshop was opened by Boško Kovačević, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro, Siniša Šešum, the head of the UNESCO Sarajevo office, and Nastasija Stojanović, the project coordinator from Partners Serbia.

As part of the program, the results of the regional study and Montenegrin report were presented by researcher Anida Sokol from the Media Center and national researcher Vesna Rajković from the Media Institute of Montenegro. The program included the presentation of UNESCO's guidelines for the management of digital platforms, which the regional coordinator held, Joshua Massarenti, followed by the presentation of the risk analysis regarding the regulation of digital platforms and media in Montenegro, which was presented by the leading expert, Bojana Kostić, and the national expert from the NGO "35mm", Snežana Nikčević.

The event brought together numerous relevant actors from institutions, regulatory bodies, media, the academic community, the civil sector, and international organizations.

The workshop was organized as part of the multi-year project "Building trust in the media in Southeast Europe: Supporting journalism as a public good", financed by the European Union.

 

Ivana Srećković, journalist