Social media platforms and search engines do not produce journalism, but they strongly influence its visibility. Algorithmic systems decide which content is amplified, deprioritised, or effectively buried.
Author: NarativAI
For decades, editorial decisions in journalism were made inside newsrooms. Editors decided which stories mattered and why. Today, across Europe, and especially in smaller and fragile media markets like the Western Balkans that power is increasingly exercised by algorithms.
According to the 2025 IRIS report, a publication of the European Audiovisual Observatory (Council of Europe), News media, pluralism and journalism in the digital age, digital platforms and AI-driven systems now play a central role in determining what news audiences see, when they see it, and whether they see it at all.
“What citizens encounter on social media, video-sharing platforms and search engines is algorithmically curated and ranked,” the report notes.
Platforms as invisible editors
Social media platforms and search engines do not produce journalism, but they strongly influence its visibility. Algorithmic systems decide which content is amplified, deprioritised, or effectively buried.
In the Western Balkans, where many media outlets depend heavily on Facebook, YouTube, or Google for reach, this dependency is especially acute. Local and regional newsrooms often lack direct audience access, data, and bargaining power.
The IRIS report highlights a structural imbalance: media outlets retain full legal responsibility for content, while platforms that shape its distribution operate with far fewer obligations.
“Platforms increasingly exercise forms of editorial control over content visibility, without assuming equivalent editorial responsibility.”, notes the IRIS report published by the European Audiovisual Observatory.
Engagement over public interest
Algorithms prioritise attention. Content that generates clicks, reactions, and watch time is rewarded, regardless of its journalistic value.
For Balkan newsrooms already operating under financial pressure, this creates difficult trade-offs:
- investigative reporting struggles to compete with sensational content,
- public-interest journalism loses visibility,
- editorial priorities are reshaped by platform logic.
“The guiding criterion has become attention and engagement rather than the public interest and accuracy,” the report notes.
Newsfluencers fill the gap
As traditional media lose reach, particularly among younger audiences, newsfluencers and individual creators have become key sources of information.
The report notes that young audiences increasingly consume news via platforms without clear awareness of who produced it or under what standards. In the Western Balkans, where trust in institutions is already fragile, this trend carries additional risks.
“Influencers operate significantly outside professional or normative frameworks established for journalists.”, notes the report.
Without transparency, editorial oversight, or accountability, audiences are left to navigate an increasingly blurred line between journalism, opinion, and political influence.
AI and the “Audience of One”
Generative AI adds another layer of fragmentation. AI-generated summaries, chatbots, and personalised answers increasingly mediate access to news.
The IRIS report warns that this creates an “audience of one”, undermining the shared information space essential for democratic debate.
The report warns that generative AI enables hyper-personalised information flows that undermine the democratic need for a shared public sphere.
For small-language markets in the Western Balkans, the risks are even higher, AI systems trained on limited or external datasets may distort local context, marginalise regional media, or reproduce inaccuracies at scale.
Regulation is catching up, slowly
European laws such as the Digital Services Act and the European Media Freedom Act aim to address platform power and protect editorial independence. However, the IRIS report concludes that regulation still lags behind technological reality.
Media outlets remain economically dependent on platforms that increasingly shape editorial outcomes, while accountability remains diffuse.
The report describes editorial autonomy as “a foundational principle of independent journalism” that is undergoing “profound transformation” in the digital media environment.
Who decides the news today?
The answer is no longer simple. Editorial power is now distributed across:
- algorithmic ranking systems,
- AI-driven content mediation,
- platform business models,
- and user data profiles.
For Western Balkan media, already operating in politically and economically sensitive environments, this shift raises urgent questions about sustainability, independence, and democratic resilience.
As the IRIS report makes clear, the challenge is no longer whether algorithms influence journalism, but whether public-interest journalism can survive in systems designed primarily for engagement and profit.
(This text was written and reviewed by the editor with support from artificial intelligence tools for language editing and stylistic refinement. More on how NarativAi uses AI — Link)