Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
A photo has been published on Facebook that claims to show the data from a poll for the mayor of Prizren in the October 12 local elections.
"The latest survey for the municipality of Prizren conducted by the prestigious American company - UGBA", writes in the claim published by the page "Shadërvanit" on September 30. According to the graph shown, Shaqir Totaj, candidate of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, leads the poll, followed by Driton Selmanaj of the Democratic League of Kosovo. Third is Artan Abrashi of the Vetëvendosje Movement.
But what's wrong with this claim?
Hibrid.info has researched through the search engine "Google" with the words "Poll for Mayor of Prizren", but the results do not show any media publications or credible sources in the last month.
Even after verification, it was found that there is no American company with the acronym or name "UGBA"which deals with measuring public opinion.
The post on the "Shadervani" page has received more than 50 reactions, 14 comments and 29 shares.
The same publication was also shared on TikTok, via the account "republic338". There it has received over 7 thousand views, 69 likes and seven comments.
About surveys
A survey is a preliminary research to know a situation, opinions or attitudes about something specific. In this statistical method Results are drawn based on the study of a portion of the population, called a sample.
In this specific case, it is not known how many people responded to the survey questions or even when the measurement was taken.
During the election campaign period for the local elections of October 12, hibrid.info has identified several fake polls for mayors of various municipalities (see here).
Analyze:
The "Shadervani" Facebook account has falsely claimed that a poll for the mayor of Prizren in the October 12 local elections was conducted by a prestigious American company.
Hibrid.info has verified online and has not found that there is an American company with this name or acronym that deals with public opinion measurement. Also, the reporting on the survey for the mayor of Prizren has not been found in any credible media.
Therefore, based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the content as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.