Croatian Fact-Checker Faktograf reports cyber attacks and threats following criticism from a businessman

The Croatian fact-checker Faktograf.hr has reported a large-scale cyber attack against its website and an increase in death threats against its journalists. This came after a local businessman, Nenad Bakić, launched various accusations against the media outlet and invited, through social media, the filing of class action lawsuits against Faktograf that «would not be very complicated to finance».

Since the start of the pandemic, Faktograf says it has reported more than 40 threats of violence against its journalists to the Croatian authorities, but no arrests have been made. These threats have intensified over the last week, including some with explicit references to the murder of two social center workers in Croatia in 2019.

At the same time, the website www.faktograf.hr suffered a cyber assault known as a Denial of Service Attack or DDOS. Over three days, they attempted to block their website by overloading it with more than 100 million connections. These visits, equivalent to more than six times the total population of Croatia, came, according to Faktograf, mainly from servers in Russia and Indonesia.

«A loud and aggressive minority will not intimidate us»

Faktograf’s response to these attacks is an article stating that it «will not allow a loud and aggressive minority» to intimidate them and that

«every attack, every insult, and threat, is just an additional reason to be even better at our work»

Faktograf, like Maldita.es, is a signatory of the Code of Principles of the International Fact-checking Network (IFCN).

The organization has also reminded that the legal lawsuits planned to silence media outlets, as proposed by the businessman in his publication, are a common tool of pressure in the country: «according to a survey by the Croatian Journalists’ Association, in 2021 there were at least 924 lawsuits against journalists and media outlets. Croatia is at the top of the EU ranking.»