The election campaign for the February 9 parliamentary elections in Kosovo officially began today, January 11. It is the first time since independence that Kosovo has held regular parliamentary elections. Until now, early elections have been held. The election campaign will last until February 9, when polling stations open on election day (Read facts about the February 9 elections in Kosovofacts.com)
During this time, there may be room for more inaccurate information to circulate, often with the aim of influencing public opinion. Based on hibrid.info's findings in the last months since the election date was set (August 16, 2024), this can mainly manifest itself in the form of fake news about candidates on the lists or even the dissemination of polls or statistics not based on facts.
Fact-checking platform Hibrid.info has addressed a number of election-related misinformation in the Albanian-language information ecosystem in recent months. This was one of the topics with the most misinformation since June (See here)
To protect oneself from misinformation in the information flood, it is recommended to check sources. The reader should ensure that the information comes from reliable and independent sources.
The reader should be careful when getting information through social media. The names of candidates are often misused and accounts are opened based on them in support or even against (see the analysis for pages with the names of Albin Kurti and Bedri Hamza).
Sponsored campaigns will be present on social media. Most social platforms now make it easy to verify who the person or account is who is paying for the sponsorship of a piece of content (Platform link) GOAL for sponsorship)
In recent months, there has been a growing trend of poll-related posts on social media, mainly on TikTok. They were mostly inaccurate and manipulated polls (Trend in 2024)
Readers should follow the work of fact-checkers and use online platforms like “Google" to verify the authenticity of the images. It is precisely the manipulation of facts, especially in polls, that has been one of the methods by which misinformation has been spread about the elections in recent months.
A Memorandum of Understanding between Hibrid.info, Telegrafi.com and Quantix/Shqip.ai aims to address misinformation and disinformation during the election process in Kosovo. This initiative, which includes the expertise of these organizations, will play a key role in increasing the transparency and reliability of public information.
Each of the parties involved will bring their own expertise and technology to ensure the most accurate results. Hibrid.info will use its experience in fact-checking, while Telegrafi.com will contribute to the wide dissemination of information. On the other hand, Quantix/Shqip.ai will provide technological support with advanced algorithms for identifying fake news.