During the monitoring of the misinformation sphere during the period 31 August – 5 September 2026, it was found that unverified content, fake news, disinformation, “Clickbait” content, conspiracy theories and scams have been circulating mainly on the social network Facebook. The topics that dominated this period are mainly related to political developments in Kosovo, including false and unverified claims about political figures and developments related to the Special Court. Misinformation content has also been identified that addressed social issues, education, migration and asylum procedures in Germany.
Fake news and unverified content
During this period, four pieces of content categorized as "Fake News" or "Unverified" were identified, which are mainly related to political figures and current developments.
One of them claimed that former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi would be released from detention in The Hague on September 16 and would then travel to the United States of America, at the invitation of US President Donald Trump. The claim was published on August 31 on Facebook, but no reliable sources were found to confirm such a visit. Furthermore, on September 16, the verdict in the case against Thaçi and three other former KLA members was announced. The content was assessed as “Fake News” (see here).
In another case, a video of former Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko was released on August 29, claiming that he had recently stated: “We have a completely different Albin today, to whom you can say with all your heart: Albin Kurti, blessed be he!”. However, the statement was made on September 26, 2023, and related to the developments following the attack in Banjska. The content did not provide the time context of the statement, creating the impression that it was made recently. The content was assessed as “Unverified” (see here).
Also, on September 2, a false claim was re-circulated attributing to LDK MP Arben Gashi the statement that, if he had the “people’s pen” in his hand, he would vote for the Serbian List over the Vetëvendosje Movement. No evidence has been found that Gashi made this statement, while the same claim was verified in 2023 and 2025. The content was assessed as “Fake News” (see here).
During the same period, several Facebook pages claimed that Kosovo’s acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, would travel to the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly. However, the Kosovo Government had not confirmed such a trip. For this reason, the content was rated “Unverified” (see here).
Clickbait
Two cases identified this week were categorized as "Clickbait" and related to social issues and public services.
On August 29, the website “Gazetavip.com” published the claim “There are no 30 euro allowances for children”, while the related article dealt with the verification process of child benefit beneficiaries. In reality, payments were not generally stopped, but verification of beneficiaries was being carried out to remove cases that did not meet the criteria. The content was assessed as “Clickbait”, as the title created a broader and more alarming impression than the content of the article (see here).
Another case was published on September 1 by the “Prishtina City” page, with the caption “BAD NEWS FOR SCHOOLS – STRIKE FROM TOMORROW”. In fact, technical workers of primary and secondary schools in the Municipality of Prishtina had gone on strike due to the non-payment of part of their July salary. The title did not specify the category of workers, creating the impression that it was a general strike in schools. The content was assessed as “Clickbait” (see here).
Conspiracy theory
During this period, content categorized as "Conspiracy Theory" was identified, which was related to developments after the announcement of the verdict in the case against former KLA leaders in The Hague.
On August 31, the Serbian-language media outlet “Blic.rs” published an article claiming that the verdict against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selim could be followed by unrest and violence against Serbs in Kosovo. The article cited political statements and warnings of tensions, but did not provide any concrete evidence or assessment by security institutions that would support the claim of preparation or organization of violence against the Serb community. The content was assessed as a “conspiracy theory”, as it created an unsupported connection between the announcement of the verdict and a possible violent scenario (see here).
Lies
One of the cases identified this week was categorized as "Fraud" and involved the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate audio-visual material.
Several Facebook pages and accounts published a video of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina, attributing to him the statement: “Hashim Thaçi is not on trial, but the KLA is on trial”. Verification showed that the footage was from 2020, when Gotovina spoke in Knin on the 25th anniversary of Operation “Storm”, and in the original speech he did not mention Thaçi or the KLA. Analysis of the audio showed that 63.5 percent of it was generated with artificial intelligence. So, real footage was combined with manipulated audio and a fabricated statement. The content was assessed as “Fraud” (see here).
disinformation
Another topic highlighted during the week was migration and asylum procedures in Germany.
On September 4, the account “Rilindja Shqiptare” published a claim that German authorities have “tightened” procedures for asylum applications from people who have converted to Christianity. The post claimed that in the past 90–100 percent of these applications were approved, while in recent years only 10–20 percent were, and that in some areas rejections exceeded 90 percent.
However, official German statistics do not specifically record the reasons for persecution related to religious conversion, so these figures cannot be confirmed. Furthermore, the term “church asylum” does not represent a specific category of asylum or a mechanism for obtaining a residence permit. While individual cases of false conversions have been documented, this does not prove that such a phenomenon is massive or that procedures have been changed in the manner claimed. The content was assessed as “Disinformation” (see here).