Across the Western Balkans and Turkey, governments are reshaping the digital landscape, often in ways that test the balance between state power, platform accountability, and fundamental rights. A new series of policy papers by BIRN explores these developments, offering in-depth analysis and recommendations to advance democratic resilience and digital freedoms in the region.
“Digital legislation and policies emerging in the Western Balkans and Turkey are not isolated technical matters. They are deeply political choices that will shape human rights, public discourse, and accountability for years to come,” says Megi Reçi, BIRN’s Digital Rights Lead Researcher and editor of the series.
“We hope this work contributes to the much-needed, evidence-based debate on how the Western Balkans and Turkey can advance toward more open, transparent, and rights-based digital governance, firmly grounded in democratic principles and the rule of law” she adds.
About the policy papers
The first policy paper, “At the crossroads: Data retention policies in the Western Balkans amid shifting EU standards’’, by Ana Toskic, examines data retention in the region in light of evolving European Union standards. While the EU has moved away from indiscriminate data retention following landmark rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union, CJEU, legal analysis of national legislation reveals that most Western Balkan countries continue to rely on outdated frameworks rooted in the annulled 2006 EU Data Retention Directive, maintaining broad and indiscriminate retention practices.
This divergence creates systemic risks for privacy and democratic accountability across the region, while also undermining progress toward EU legal harmonisation. The paper further highlights how access to retained data remains largely dominated by security and intelligence agencies, characterised by low transparency and limited institutional oversight.
It concludes with targeted recommendations for Western Balkan governments to align their data retention laws with EU standards and fundamental rights protections.
The second paper, “Digital Public Space in Turkey: Platforms and State Power Amid Rule-of-Law Challenges’’, by Gürkan Özturan, examines how Turkey’s digital legislation and policy have moved toward digital repression in step with the country’s broader democratic and rule-of-law erosion. It traces the tightening of state control over online spaces through successive legislative amendments that have expanded government authority over digital platforms, data governance, and online expression.
Beyond the legal framework, the paper analyses platform dynamics and the implementation of regulations, drawing on key case studies of content moderation, algorithmic visibility, and compliance with government takedown and data requests. It explores how these mechanisms shape the digital public sphere, affect the pluralism of online discourse, and constrain democratic dialogue, media freedom, and civic participation.
Recognising that Turkey’s ongoing digital rights crisis is deeply intertwined with its institutional erosion, politicised judiciary, and weak regulatory independence, the paper argues that advancing digital rights will require comprehensive political reform and a renewed commitment to restoring legal safeguards and institutional accountability – an outcome that, for now, remains uncertain.
The third policy paper “User Rights and Platform Governance in Serbia – A Comparative Analysis with the EU Digital Services Act’’ by Milica Tosic, examines the state of user rights and platform accountability mechanisms in Serbia in light of the Digital Services Act , DSA.
The paper compares the DSA’s user-rights and platform-duty provisions with Serbia’s current framework, identifies key legal gaps, and offers targeted recommendations. For example, it examines DSA mechanisms that guarantee users clear explanations for content removals, accessible avenues to challenge moderation decisions, and transparency obligations for platforms.
The paper highlights that Serbian citizens lack the legal protections and procedural safeguards available to users in the EU, leaving them without effective redress and platforms without adequate oversight.
As Serbia drafts a DSA-inspired law, the policy paper argues that this process will determine whether the country genuinely strengthens digital rights, or expands state control over online speech.