Ex Progressives’ Official Claims Bots Served To Boost Regime’s Golden Era Narrative

Stanislava Pak (YTPrintScreen)

Stanislava Pak, a former official of the Serbian Progressive Party and media advisor to the former Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic, said on July 11 that the task of 14,000 bots was to uphold virtual reality which had been for years presented to the public through media outlets. Pak told BETA that there were two realities in Serbia.

“On the one hand, there are price hikes of fuels and basic foodstuffs, funds raised for medical treatments of children through text messages and pushing Serbia to the verge of poverty, while on the other hand, there is a golden era, virtual stadiums, roads which cost multiple their actual price, and millions of square meters which there is no one left to buy in that other imaginary world. This virtual reality has been presented to the public through media outlets and has been upheld by bots,” Pak specified.

Pak stressed that anyone who had tried to unmask “ruthless looting” had been attacked by Progressives’ bots. “Bots are financed from the budget, so they have been paid by those who have been attacked and those who have been deceived. We can no longer speak about a wrong policy or incompetent authorities. All Serbia’s citizens, and also the international community, particularly its western part, are part of the deception and manipulation of a group of people led by [Serbian President] Aleksandar Vucic, whose goal is to cling on to power for as long as possible even if it means destruction of all of us. We must not allow that to happen,” Pak stressed.

A list of more than 14,000 bot accounts of the Serbian Progressive Party has been published on social networks. The list contains the names of the account owners, their location and links to their accounts. Authenticity of the list has not been confirmed nor denied by any regime official. The list reveals that among the bots are public sector employees from across Serbia.