How much does disinformation cost? Politicians fuel apathy and distrust, undermining the EU path

According to the latest survey commissioned by the Metamorphosis Foundation, politicians in Macedonia continue to be perceived as one of the main sources of disinformation. Respondents ranked them right after social networks and ahead of portals, with 81 percent seeing politicians as active actors in the spread of false information. Disinformation continues to be a powerful tool on the political scene: it is used to build support, discredit opponents, and mobilize voters through fear, uncertainty, and polarization. Disinformation fuels cynicism and distrust towards European institutions and Macedonia’s European integration process. In both this survey and the previous report, politicians are consistently ranked among the main actors contributing to the circulation of disinformation. In fact, 89% of citizens believe that politicians spread disinformation, writes Portalb.mk.

The greater the political interest, the greater the tendency to manipulate information, especially in countries with high political polarization, such as the Republic of North Macedonia. Politicians use strong, simplified or distorted narratives to divide the public. They create an “internal enemy” or an “external enemy” and use emotional statements instead of facts. This makes their statements more susceptible to disinformation.

What did the survey show specifically?

According to the survey results, social media (87%), politicians (81%), and portals (78%) are considered the main sources of disinformation distribution in the country. These findings indicate a high level of public awareness of the role of politicians in creating and transmitting false or manipulative information. In addition, journalists and the media (78%), and influential people (56%) are also identified as important sources, which speaks to the perception that disinformation is present in both formal and informal media channels.

A public opinion poll conducted by the Indago agency from October 6 to 17, 2025, which included 1,100 respondents via telephone surveys.

Below, we will present some of the disinformation from political actors that marked the year we are leaving behind (2025), as well as those identified during 2024.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski often uses the term “several hundred” members of the Bulgarian community. In fact, in his statement to Euronews, he said that “several hundred members of the Bulgarian community” live in the country, which does not match the official statistics. The last census in North Macedonia was conducted in 2021 and according to the results of that census, several thousand citizens, or 3,504, declared themselves Bulgarians.

“A few hundred members of the Bulgarian community in the country have all the rights and are part of our institutions, and on the other hand, tens of thousands of members of the Macedonian community in Bulgaria are not even allowed to register non-governmental organizations. But that’s okay. They are in the EU, we are outside the EU. This is a kind of “provocation”, but that’s okay. We would like to see ourselves at the table in Brussels, but the real question is whether this is the final price we have to pay,” said Mickoski on November 4, 2025.

The Minister of Sport, Borko Ristovski, in an interview with Radio Free Europe on August 3, 2025, responding to a question about the disastrous results of young Macedonian athletes at the Youth Olympic Games, manipulated the reasons why no medals were won, with unfounded speculation about the number of young talents the country has.

Minister Ristovski initially mentions the figure of “500 talented children”, and immediately halves it, asking “and do we have 250?”

In North Macedonia, there is no central database with data on the number of young talented athletes, nor a merit system that would identify young talents in sports, therefore Minister Ristovski determines their number arbitrarily, Truthmeter.mk writes. 

The Municipality of Tetovo did not reflect the truth in its post on 12.11.2025 in which it claimed that it was positively assessed by the European Commission for increasing green areas, improving air quality, and creating a healthier living environment for citizens.

In the European Commission’s Progress Report for North Macedonia, the Municipality of Tetovo is mentioned only once, in connection with the completion of the air pollutant cadastre, without any assessment, comment, or praise for its environmental policies, Portalb.mk wrote at the time.

Jovana Mojsoska, a member of the leadership of the parliamentary party Levica [the Left], stated on 07.02.2023 that the party is in favor of EU membership and is therefore not an anti-European party, but not at any cost, for two reasons—”tectonic changes in the geopolitical order” and the damage from all the agreements that Macedonia has signed so far towards Euro-Atlantic integration, which have affected the “sovereignty and integrity of the state.”

Emphasizing these two general reasons is a distortion of the truth.

The claim that tectonic geopolitical processes are one of the reasons for the position of “EU membership, but not at any cost,” and the rhetorical response, without a substantive explanation that “there is always an alternative,” is de facto a distortion of the truth, Truthmeter.mk wrote.

The above examples further reinforce citizens’ perception that politicians are among the biggest spreaders of disinformation.

 

Citizens’ perception is reflected in political apathy

The turnout in this year’s local elections, for the first time, failed to exceed 50 percent in either the first or the second round. This made these local elections the eighth-lowest in turnout since North Macedonia’s independence.

According to SEC data, in the first round of the mayoral elections in October 2025, turnout was 48.30 percent of the total number of registered voters. Out of 1,832,415 registered voters, 885,085 citizens voted. In the second round, turnout was 40.46 percent.

As many as 6.07 percent of all ballots were invalid. A figure that in another way reflects the revolt against politicians. Communication experts also confirm that the trend of disinformation directly contributes to lower voter turnout, especially among young and undecided voters.

“The main problem is that disinformation spreads because it has a strong polarizing effect, from which one side benefits, while the great harm it causes, such as the loss of trust in institutions and the political system, the passivization of citizens, and more, is often ignored,” political communications expert Professor Sead Dzigal told Portalb.mk.

According to him, due to information chaos, citizens are distancing themselves from political processes and losing faith that they can change anything or influence the way key issues that affect their existence are resolved.

Elections, party interests, and polarization not only encourage the spread of disinformation, but also turn it into an integral part of political strategies and, unfortunately, of political culture, Dzigal explains.

Communicator Dzigal reminds us that political disinformation is usually spread through a combination of traditional media, digital platforms, and informal communication networks.

Propaganda and disinformation often first appear on social networks and, depending on the responses they receive, are later picked up by online portals. Quite often, due to their political influence, they also reach national media or are used at party press conferences. Although the forms vary, their circulation is mainly driven by politically motivated individuals or groups who use them to serve narrow party interests. Particularly dangerous is disinformation that targets, in addition to politics, ethnic and religious tolerance. Disinformation related to business backgrounds or personal conflicts is less common, he concludes.

Sefer Tahiri, a university professor, reminds us that there is a stereotype that politicians do not tell the truth. According to him, this is based on the fact that politicians have not fulfilled the promises they made.

Their slogans or mottos were linked to words, Tahiri says.

Politicians, Tahiri points out, continue not only to manipulate the public, that is, voters, but also to spread disinformation and produce propaganda content.

As for disinformation, it is mainly related to promises. During the election campaign, promises were made that had no real basis, and on the other hand, we had the production of disinformation that was directed at the rival, the opposing side. We have faced situations where politicians misinformed about various employment opportunities. One of those promises was that 3,000 Albanians would be employed before the election campaign, and it turned out that it was just an election promise, not a fulfilled promise, emphasized Tahiri for Portalb.mk.

Consequently, what political communications expert Sefer Tahiri identifies as a problem is also highlighted in several articles on Portalb.mk, which point to the failure to fulfill pre-election promises and the dissemination of disinformation to the public.

For example, the reports published on the Municipality of Tetovo and the Municipality of Lipkovo show how large the number of unfulfilled promises is in relation to fulfilled promises.

Disinformation in politics is not just “fake news”, but a serious threat to democracy, social stability, trust in institutions, interethnic coexistence and the ability of citizens to make informed decisions. In an era when information and communication are global and instantaneous, the risk is much greater, and the need for media education, transparent institutions and mechanisms for protection against disinformation are extremely important.

Disinformation is contributing to the decline in trust in the EU

When politicians claim that “the EU is cheating us,” “discriminating against us,” or “has double standards,” they can fuel cynicism and distrust toward European institutions. Such rhetoric creates a narrative that anyone who supports the EU is being “cheated” or that the process is inherently unfair.

The current Prime Minister, Hristijan Mickoski, does not hesitate to highlight the “double standards” when it comes to the country’s path towards the EU.

In his speech at the CPAC conference in Washington, the Prime Minister addressed criticism of the European Union’s alleged double standards while discussing the strategic partnership between the United States and North Macedonia.

We cannot become members of the EU because we are once again under pressure to change our Constitution. If the Constitution is not an internal matter of a sovereign country, then I wonder what is? Is this fair? If someone criticizes the speech, which, in my humble opinion was very inspiring, they should look in the mirror and see what they themselves are doing. European values ​​are not a bilateralization of the EU accession process, Mickoski said.

The “Disinfo Radar” and monitoring in the country concluded that:

This longstanding narrative has persisted in the Macedonian disinformation landscape for years and is further amplified whenever repeated by high-level officials. Such distortions reinforce entrenched Eurosceptic and anti-Western messaging.

 

The director of the Metamorphosis Foundation, Bardhyl Jashari, believes that by repeating or reinforcing narratives that present the EU as weak, manipulative, and even hostile, politicians are fueling anti-EU, anti-democratic, and anti-Western sentiments, deepening internal divisions, and further weakening the already weak trust in the institutions that should lead the reform process.

 

 

This internal disinformation often coincides with campaigns orchestrated or instigated by external actors such as Russia, which aim to slow down and disrupt the region’s integration into the EU and offer other geopolitical “paths,” further complicating not only the region’s path to the EU, but also the Union’s enlargement strategy itself. As recent analyses show, these narratives not only misinform citizens in our country and in the region, but also distort the way the EU views the candidate countries and provide arguments to forces within the EU to be skeptical of enlargement and to question the credibility and readiness of these countries, Jashari tells Portalb.mk.

At the same time, Jashari adds, these narratives serve to self-sacrifice politicians and distract attention from topics important to citizens: judicial reform, the fight against corruption, institutional accountability, and the deterioration of the quality of life.

Instead of being held accountable for concrete results in these areas, they shift public debate to conspiracy theories and imagined external enemies, which makes it difficult to consolidate democracy and meet EU membership standards, he concluded.

Author: Xhenis Sulimani

Source: Portalb.mk

 

 

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