Several banners in Albanian calling for protests in south Mitrovica were posted and distributed on social media yesterday (June 30).
Although the banners are different in design and content, they have the same message.
These posts were made mainly on TikTok and a smaller portion of them on Facebook.
Hibrid.info has addressed the authenticity of this content and has realized that it comes from suspicious accounts and pages.
The content of some of these posts calls for action to, as it is written, take over the country, linking it to the recent events in northern Kosovo:
We march north.
We invite you en masse to come out and support our country – The north is Kosovo too
After researching and investigating these publishers, hibrid.info has found that the publishers of these calls on Facebook, which in this case is a page, do not possess information about their activity and operations.
On the social media Facebook, the page named "Podujeva", which has nearly 100 thousand followers and has an address and phone number, published this call for protest yesterday, May 31. (see here)
In addition to this page, on this social media, the same call has also been made through a group called "LATEST NEWS". (see here)
In this call, at the top of this banner appears the name "JOQ Anglia", and despite the research conducted by hibrid.info, no official information has been found that proves the existence of an organization with such a name. Therefore, this name has not been seen to be present on digital platforms (social media or websites).
Another banner with the call for protest, the name "Union of Mitrovica Citizens" is found, which suggests that it is a group that has organized such a rally. Also, after searching, hibrid.info has not been able to find anything related to this name/group.
While on the social media TikTok, this call has been made in significantly larger numbers by many different accounts.
When searching TikTok, dozens of posts with the same call came up. (see some here, here, here and here). While hibrid.info also provides a more extensive list of links to TikTok accounts that published this invitation.
While hibrid.info also provides a more extensive list of links to TikTok accounts that published this invitation:
So, based on research conducted by hibrid.info, it is not known who is behind such an organization.
The same has not been reported in any media, and there are no persons, groups or organizations that have undertaken such an organization.
The Kosovo Police have also stated that these calls are unclear. So, neither this institution, which is competent to approve requests for public gatherings (see Article 4-5-6 of the Law on Public Gatherings), is not aware of the organization of such a march.
Furthermore, through a reaction on their official Facebook page, they call on citizens to ignore calls to participate in the protest, describing them as suspicious. (see here)
There was also a reaction from the Minister of Interior, Xhelal Sveçla, who used his Facebook account to call on citizens not to respond to these suspicious calls and anonymous organizations. (see here)
Analyze:
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, the organizer of the calls for protests in south Mitrovica is unknown.
The calls were mainly made from TikTok accounts, as well as Facebook groups and pages, which it is not known who manages them.
Regarding this call, the Kosovo Police, as well as the Minister of Interior, Xhelal Sveçla, have reacted, calling on citizens not to respond to this call, as it is considered suspicious.
Based on the working methodology, this call for protest has been assessed as "Fake News", as it implies that the entire content is untrue and is completely fabricated and its origin is unknown.
Reasoning:
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.