The town of Veles in northern Macedonia is now back in the news ahead of the US presidential election, much like it was in the 2016 election when it became known for managing websites aimed at conservative US audiences. Some of the websites, after the US election in 2016, in which Donald Trump won, ceased to function, but in the meantime, new pages appeared.
Their mission, as stated in the description of one of these websites, is to report on news that is not published by the mainstream media. In the spirit of their news the are words like: "Conservatives Forever" or "Conservative Warriors" "Conservativeforever.com" and "Conservativefighters.org".
Although the people behind the sites tried to hide their identities by opening emails in the United States, the Partnership for Electoral Integrity found that they were coming from the North Macedonian town of Veles, copying content from other US sites for the purpose of financial gain. According to the organization, they now use the Parler social network, which is considered a right-wing platform and has hundreds of thousands of users in the United States to attract significant visitors to their websites.
Trajce Arsov works as a lawyer in Skopje, and since 2015 runs the website "USApoliticstoday.org".
He tells Radio Free Europe that now the topic with the so-called Veles pages is being revived in order to cast doubt on the American elections, although, as he emphasizes, this is not their goal.
"It is interesting that now the public is constantly asked if the citizens of Veles are preparing for the elections. This is not correct. None of the sites that were created in Veles before and now, were made due to the US elections. This is because they saw some financial interests. "These pages we are talking about now have their origins in 2018," says Arsov.
According to him, it is absurd to accuse only Macedonians and their websites of interfering in the elections, because in such a situation, other media that report on the United States and come from other countries should be blamed. Now, unlike in the past, as Arsov points out, it is accepted that this is not about fake news, but about content that is rebroadcast by other websites.
"It was the same in 2016, when everyone posted articles created in the mainstream media, especially the conservative ones. Everyone then reported that fake news was being written in Veles. "First, no one in Veles knows the real politics in America to create politics or fake news.… Now there is no fake news here, there was only financial interest in republishing other people's news," Arsov said.
Trajce Arsov's website has been running every day for the last five years and, as he says, it works professionally. From the 15 thousand contents published so far, according to him, you can find some that are suspicious and with conspiracy theories, but they according to him should not dismantle that all the work done is characterized by the spread of false news and interference in the election in the interest of US President Donald Trump.
Arsov says controversial content can be found in almost any media and the sites are aimed at conservative audiences, as such are lacking in the US media market.
Arsov does not rule out the possibility that in 2016 they may have influenced the voters in some way to increase the rating of President Trump, because at that time there were many sites with conservative content. But now, it is different, because as he says, Trump has a higher rating in this election campaign than four years ago.
Experts say fake news and misinformation have always existed, but now with the internet and social media, news circulates around the world in seconds.
According to them, this is a great advantage, but also a risk, if not intervened immediately, as they can create confusion and affect certain processes. Since 2016, social networks are taking much bigger measures to prevent the spread of fake news.
"When it comes to copying and disseminating such information, it is very important to find the source of the fake news. So first you need to stop what is the source of the fake news or start the chain of spreading this kind of information. As for North Macedonia or Veles, the poorer the country and the more young people need to earn money, the more vulnerable we will be to this phenomenon. I think we need a broader campaign to come up with a comprehensive strategy to provide better ways for young people to benefit, and not for them to be the target of criticism or punishment as the internet offers many ways to make money legally." said public relations and new media specialist Bojan Kordalov.