"US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Tirana”And“Ivanka Trump in Vlora" are two claims published on Sunday (April 12) in the Albanian-language digital space.
However, these two claims were not confirmed and were later denied by credible sources.
However, the same claims were also published by Albanian-language media.
Marco Rubio in Tirana
Ardian Hoxha, a businessman from Kosovo, published on his Facebook account an image claiming to be in the company of three people, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (see here).
The current caption of the publication clarifies that this image was created with artificial intelligence.
However, by checking the history of image description edits, it is noted that the post had this content: "It was a great honor to host Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Tirana today. We believe that our projects in Albania will further strengthen the ties between the Albanian and American nations. Thank you Driton for organizing this."
Several Albanian-language media outlets, based on the first description of this post, have published articles reporting that the top American diplomat was in Tirana. Articles from several media outlets about this image continue to be in the digital space (see here and here).
Meanwhile, if a search is conducted on the Google search engine with the keywords "marco rubio tirana", results appear that include media articles published as reports based on the image in question, but which have subsequently been deleted.
Ivanka Trump in Vlora
The allegation about the stay of US President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka, in Vlora was reported by Albanian-language media based in Albania (see here and here). The same claim was also republished by several media outlets in Kosovo (see here and here).
Albanian-language media later published articles clarifying that the claim about Ivanka Trump's arrival in Vlora was fake news (see here and hereThe claim was also denied by the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama (see here and here).
Why does this happen?
Information published in this form, hibrid.info gives the rating as "Unverified Content". Based on the methodology, the rating “Unverified” is made to those informative contents that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which could not be verified due to certain circumstances (speed, lack of resources) during the publication of the content.
In some of the cases where some media outlets publish inaccurate content, hibrid.info has observed that it is a journalistic practice, which is based on materials from external sources, resulting in articles that are copies of the original (see here and hereThis practice is known as “Churnalism”, or “copy-paste journalism” (see here).
If a media outlet publishes unverified content and it is then republished by other media outlets, the possibility of inaccurate information spreading across multiple sources of information increases.
Meanwhile, according to a scientific article "Exploring factors that mitigate the ongoing impact of misinformation"(Exploring factors that mitigate the continued influence of misinformation) from Cannes et al(2021), it was shown that even after information has been corrected, individuals' beliefs and perceptions often continue to be influenced by the original information.
cONcluSiON
The cases of “Marco Rubio in Tirana” and “Ivanka Trump in Vlora” clearly show how unverified content can circulate rapidly in the digital space and be republished by some media without a full verification of the facts. In these situations, an initial post or an unclear source can become “news” through its reproduction by different media, creating the impression of confirmed information.
This practice significantly increases the risk of spreading misinformation, especially when editorial control is lacking or when speed prevails over accuracy. At the same time, it demonstrates the importance of verifying sources and the responsibility of the media in the process of publishing information. In this context, such cases further emphasize the need for careful reporting based on confirmed facts.