Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
Unverified and misleading content has dominated the past week in terms of misinformation published in the media, dubious portals, and social media pages and accounts.
All unverified content has been published on social media. Two of these were related to claims about arming the KSF with various weapons. In a social media publication, three photos were claimed to depict the bombings currently taking place in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Photos of Milan Radoicic armed near the bust of “Tsar Lazar” in Mitrovica have been published on social media, at least one of the photos published on May 28 was not taken in 2023, as claimed.
The misleading content has been published on social media with claims that some soldiers hold the Albanian national flag next to the Israeli one; that actor Mel Gibson predicts the end of Israel; that the Kosovo Government will provide free solar energy to people over 45 years old; the image of the Kosovo Assembly member, Mërgim Lushtaku, has images of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi placed behind him in a photo, during moments of verbal exchanges near Serbian leaders Aleksandër Vučić and Ivica Dačić, while one of the photos shows the moment of Thaçi's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The news of a person's escape from Gjilan prison is being incorrectly reported as current.
Conspiracy theories have been published by Serbian-language media with unfounded claims that Albanians have thrown a grenade at the home of a Serbian family in the village of Mogilë; that Prime Minister Albin Kurti is offering Orthodox churches to the Vatican; that Kurti has threatened war 47 times in seven days, and that life for Serbs in Kosovo is becoming more unbearable day by day.
Clickbait articles have been published on news portals with claims in the headlines that "people who did not participate in the population census will not be able to receive services from the state" and that "Erdogan fills Kosovo with weapons, Kurti's visit to Turkey and the signed agreements."
Fake news has been published on social media claiming that Italy has offered to purchase helicopters for the Kosovo Security Force (KSF); that crimes in Kosovo have increased by 80%, referring to British media.
The disinformation has been published in Serbian-language media, where through an image showing Savo Manojlović, a candidate for mayor in the upcoming local elections in Belgrade, it is claimed that the photo was taken in 2015 and that the woman seen next to him is the Deputy Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Saranda Bogujevci.
error
An article titled “A person escapes from Gjilan prison” has been published. The news was published by the Radio Star portal, “radiostargjilan.com”, on May 17 of this year. After verification by hibrid.info, it was found that it concerns an arrested person, who had escaped in July 2023. (here)
Conspiracy theory
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, without relying on facts, has claimed that Albanians have thrown a grenade at the house of a Serbian family in the village of Mogilë. This statement was also published by several Serbian-language media. The media outlet “Kurir.rs” in its article about this event says that the head of the Gjuziq family has also notified the police about this event. And in a statement after handling this claim by hibrid.info, the Kosovo Police has indicated that it is an explosive device that is suspected to be from before the war. (here)
The Serbian-language daily “Politika.rs” published an article on May 27 with the title “Kurti offers Serbian churches in Kosovo to the Vatican”. The newspaper’s article is based mainly on statements by Aleksandar Raković, from the Institute for New History of Serbia, and former journalist and politician Ratko Dmitrović. Despite the claim in the headline that Prime Minister Albin Kurti is offering Orthodox churches to the Vatican, the sources used in the article do not provide any concrete facts to support this claim. (here)
A headline claims that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has threatened war 47 times in seven days and that life for Serbs in Kosovo is becoming more unbearable day by day. The claim in the headline of the Serbian-language media outlet, “alo.rs”, that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has threatened war is unfounded. Prime Minister Kurti has said that there is a potential risk, attributing this to Serbia’s rapid armament and not that Kosovo is threatening anyone with war. (here)
Clickbait
It was claimed through the title that “Persons who did not participate in the population census will not be able to receive services from the state”. After verification, it turns out that the title was taken from a statement by the head of ASK, Avni Kastrati, but who, according to the content of the articles, did not say it as a done deal, but added that this could happen if the practices of other countries are taken. Moreover, at the conference held, Kastrati stated that this could apply to “some” institutions and that “he is not sure if all institutions will be strict”. (here)
“Erdogan FILLS Kosovo with weapons, Kurti’s visit to Turkey and the signed agreements” is the title of an article published on June 1 by the Albanian-language information portal “ntv.al”. The text of the article, which talks about Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s visit to Turkey and the meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, does not mention any concrete agreement for Kosovo to be supplied with weapons from Turkey. (here)
Unverified content
Through some images, it was claimed that the images depict the weapons that are expected to be added to the Kosovo Security Force (KSF). The images were published on TikTok by the account “netti29” on May 10 with the caption “Weapons that are expected to join the Kosovo army”. In these photos, the Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, is seen near some weapons. Hibrid.info, after checking the facts, confirmed that the photos were taken from the official Facebook account of the Minister Maqedonci, taken during the Defence24 forum held in Poland, but that the same did not state that these weapons are expected to be added to the KSF. (here)
Photographs of Milan Radoičić armed near the bust of “Tsar Lazar” in North Mitrovica, surrounded by other armed individuals, who are alleged to be members of the group that carried out the attack in Banjska, have been published. The images published on May 28, on the social network “X” (formerly Twitter) by the account named “Fitim Çeku”, are alleged to have been taken in 2023. The author of the publication raises questions about how Radoičić was allowed to enter Kosovo at this time, when it was known that the authorities in Kosovo had issued an arrest warrant for him, following suspicions of “intimidation of witnesses during criminal proceedings” in the Brezovica case. Contrary to the claim of this account on “X”, hibrid.info has found that at least one of the photographs published on May 28 was not taken in 2023. (here)
Through a video material, it is claimed that Kosovo has expressed interest in the armaments shown in the image. The video titled “Kosovo shows interest in these types of weapons at the arms fair in Qatar”, was published on March 9 on Youtube by the channel “DARDANIAN EAGLE”. After checking the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the photographs were taken from the exhibition fair of the most modern and advanced technologies of all types of armaments, held in Doha. (here)
Three photos are claiming that the images depict the bombings currently taking place in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The photos with this claim were published on May 28 on Facebook by several accounts such as “Neki Gorçe”, “Izet Laçi” and “Remzi Alim”. After checking the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the images are old and do not depict the current situation in Rafah. (here)
Lies
In November last year, “reuters.com” had covered a post claiming to be a statement by actor Mel Gibson regarding the state of Israel. The same statement, in which it is claimed that the actor predicts the end of Israel, has also been published in Albanian. Hibrid.info has found the claim published (May 18) on Facebook, by accounts with the names “Masxhid El Aqsa” and “Masxhid Al Aqsa”. Hibrid.info has found that the claim about the actor’s statement is incorrect. (here)
An image of Kosovo Assembly member Mërgim Lushtaku has been published, where behind him, photographs of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi appear to be placed, during moments of verbal exchanges near Serbian leaders Aleksandër Vučić and Ivica Dačić, while one of the photographs shows the moment of Thaçi's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This image was published on May 28, on TikTok by the account "fatmir764". Hibrid.info has found that the image published on TikTok has interference, which, based on the comments on this content, may affect the image shown to be taken as true. (here)
A sponsored link is published, in the form of an image, in the caption of which, it is claimed that free solar energy will be provided by the Government of Kosovo for people over 45 years old. This link was published on May 30 by a page called “Solar kit” on Facebook and has been shared in more than 10 cases, until the moment of treatment. However, hibrid.info has found that the claim in question is a fraud. (here)
Through the photos, it has been claimed that some soldiers are holding the Albanian national flag next to the Israeli one. The account with the name “katoliku.patriot” on TikTok has received tens of thousands of views, thousands of likes and hundreds of comments in several similar posts. On May 30, this account published a video consisting of three photos of some soldiers holding the Albanian and Israeli national flags in their hands. After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that the photos published by this account on TikTok are generated with Artificial Intelligence. (here)
Fake news
It is alleged that Italy has offered to purchase helicopters to the Kosovo Security Force (KSF). This claim was published by the “DARDANIA EAGLE” channel on Youtube and by the TikTok account named “teamkosovo2”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the images were taken from the official Facebook page of the KSF, through which this institution wrote that “A delegation from the Italian Armed Forces, led by Lieutenant Colonel Marco Mascari, pilot instructor, visited the International Search and Rescue Training Center (QNTKSH). So, in no case is it said that the Italian state has offered to purchase “Agusta Westland” helicopters to the KSF. (here)
An image has been found published showing an article claiming that crimes in Kosovo have increased by 80%, referring to British media. The image was published on May 29 on TikTok, by an account named “azempajaziti”. Hibrid.info has not found any reporting on this issue from British media, and the annual reports of the Kosovo Police, based on cases assessed as criminal offenses, do not indicate the alleged increase in crimes in this period. (here)
disinformation
Through an image showing Savo Manojlović, a candidate for mayor in the upcoming local elections in Belgrade, it is claimed that the photo was taken in 2015 and that the woman seen next to him is the deputy speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Saranda Bogujevci. This photo with this claim was published on May 25 by a Serbian-language account on X (former Twitter) called “Ledeni”. This post from this account with the same claim also appeared in the Serbian media “Alo.rs”, “24sedam.rs” and “Sd.rs”. After a fact-check conducted by hibrid.info, it is noted that the woman in that photo does not resemble Bogujevci at all, and a comparison of the 2015 photo of the deputy speaker of the Assembly shows that the similarity between her and the hitherto unknown woman in the photo with Manojlović is very small. (here)