Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
An image is published showing Lumir Abdixhiku, the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), claiming that he has promised to join Kosovo in NATO and the EU, just as they had achieved visa liberalization.
content was published on November 3 on Facebook, by an account named "Muharrem Tashevci".
Findings after treatment
Hibrid.info has found that Abdixhiku's statement is true, except for the part about visa liberalization, which he did not mention in this specific case.
Hibrid.info, verifying this image, has noticed that the image shows an article published in the Albanian language medium, "gazetablic.com".
By researching the website of this medium, hibrid.info found the article in question, titled "Abdixhiku promises: With us, Kosovo will join NATO and the EU", which shows that unlike the content discussed, the title of this text is missing the sentence "just as we had achieved visa liberalization". (see photo below)
In addition to the title, and based on what is shown within this text, hibrid.info has noticed that Abdixhiku has not mentioned visa liberalization as a promise fulfilled by the entity he leads.
Which means that this image may have been tampered with, to give additional and non-existent meaning to Abdixhiku's statement.
Based on what is written in the article, the LDK leader said these words at the 11th electoral convention of the Albanian Democratic Christian Party of Kosovo (PShDK), which he attended.
Hibrid.info has also researched other articles published by other Albanian-language media outlets reporting on this event, which have proven that Abdixhiku, in his speech at this event, did not claim that visa liberalization is the merit of the LDK (see here, here and here).
Analyze:
The claim that LDK leader Lumir Abdixhiku has promised that just as they achieved visa liberalization, they will join Kosovo in NATO and the EU is half-true.
Although Abdixhiku has promised membership in Euro-Atlantic organizations, in this statement he did not claim to take credit for visa liberalization.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Manipulation of facts" and "Fraud".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.
The “Deception” rating is given to informational content that is manipulated in terms of visual (deepfake, cheapfake), audio, or textual content to deceive the audience. This form of deception is usually used to produce false and manipulated content.