Case Study: The Serbian Regime’s Fight Against the “Color Revolution”
The GEO-POWER-EU project has published a case study on the Serbian Regime’s Fight Against the “Color Revolution”, examining how disinformation is used by domestic political elites in Serbia to suppress democratic dissent and manage foreign influence narratives.
Drawing on desk research and 11 semi-structured interviews with journalists, media experts, and civil society actors, the study demonstrates that disinformation in Serbia is primarily domestically produced, strategically targeted, and embedded in state–media structures. Focusing on the Serbian regime’s response to student and civic protests in 2024–2025, it shows how the “color revolution” frame functions as a central instrument of information manipulation and how the regime uses contradictory narratives across audiences: portraying protests domestically as Western-orchestrated destabilisation, while externally framing them as Russian interference.
The case study highlights the limits of existing regulatory frameworks, the capture of media oversight institutions, and the consequences of EU and Western passivity in the face of state-sponsored disinformation. It concludes with targeted recommendations for EU institutions and Serbian civil society, stressing the need to treat disinformation not as episodic misinformation but as a core pillar of authoritarian governance.
📥 Download the full case study (PDF).
*Featured image: EGIL