"Austrian media declare that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti currently has the highest rating in the Balkans and part of Europe, due to his unwavering stance, not being blackmailed and the first uncorrupted leader in the Balkans, who even after all the turmoil with Serbia and the European Union, managed to establish sovereignty in the northern part of Kosovo, returning 17% of the territory to the state."
This is the caption of a piece of content that was published on Thursday (September 18) on Facebook by two pages with the names "World News","Insider”And“Hasanbeg Neighborhood Skopje".
The same claim was later published on the media outlet's Facebook page.Kosova Post" and on the page "Kosovo Channel".
What's wrong with this content?
The content lacks concrete sources that would allow for verification of the claims, as it is not specified in which Austrian media outlets these reports were made.
As of the time of writing, the content published in "Hasanbeg Neighborhood Skopje" has received over 7,800 likes and over 400 comments. While the content published in "Lajme Nga Bota" has over 3,300 likes and over 150 comments.
The distribution across several publishers and the significant number of reactions to these posts make the claim relevant for treatment.
According to Kosovo Press Code (KPMC), journalists and editors should, in principle, rely on identifiable sources of information, while media outlets should have clear practices for identifying sources and verifying facts, with a particular focus on the first source of information (II.2 and II.9).
In this case, the content does not identify any of the Austrian media outlets to which it attributes these reports, does not provide the original article or source, and does not specify the date of publication, making it difficult to verify the claims.
Hibrid.info has researched through the search engine "Google" with the keywords "Austrian media albin kurti" (see here and here).
The results from the research have revealed a broad overview of media coverage, analysis and reports regarding the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and his relationships or mentions in Austrian media, such as Der Standard and Die Presse.
They include articles from various news portals covering his visits, statements and interviews in Vienna, as well as discussions about political developments, governance, relations with local media, and regional and international issues.
In addition, the search page displays an AI Overview that lists key interactions, videos from various platforms, as well as social media posts and images from official meetings.
However, during this search, no results, articles or reports from the Austrian media were found to support or confirm the claims that Albin Kurti has the "highest rating in the Balkans and part of Europe", that he is the "first uncorrupted leader in the Balkans" or that he has "returned 17% of the territory to the state".
In addition to the general search, hibrid.info also specifically researched each of the main content claims, using relevant keywords in the Austrian language, in the Google search engine.
The searches have focused on Albin Kurti's claim to have the "highest rating", the claim that he is the "first uncorrupted leader in the Balkans" and the claim that he has "returned 17% of the territory" of Kosovo to the state.
While verifying these claims, Google searches did not reveal any reporting or measurements from Austrian media declaring Albin Kurti as the leader with the "highest rating in the Balkans and part of Europe," as results only feature ordinary articles on the Vetëvendosje Movement's election results and analysis of its political situation, not the exaggerated claims of social media.
Although some old articles or analyses show that he is often perceived personally as uncorrupted by observers or supporters, the Austrian media have not published any official statements calling him the “first uncorrupted leader in the Balkans” or making such absolute comparisons (see here).
Furthermore, regarding the issue of “17% of the territory”, specific research proves that this figure does not come from any Austrian or international media, but is a narrative used in reality in Kosovo, such as statements by politicians such as Fatmir Limaj, to claim that the north of the country has been outside institutional control (see here).
Based on these searches, no reporting or source from the Austrian media has been found that supports the claims presented in this content.
Analyze
A post published on Facebook on September 18 claims that "Austrian media" have described Albin Kurti as the leader with the "highest rating in the Balkans and part of Europe", the "first uncorrupted leader in the Balkans" and that he has managed to "return 17% of the territory to the state".
The post does not identify any specific media outlet or source from which these assessments were taken.
Meanwhile, the verification has not found any articles or reports from Austrian media that have reported these claims.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the claim as "Fake News".
rationale
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.