Last week was characterized by the dominance of unverified content in the misinformation ecosphere in Kosovo.
Unverified content of photos of the killed attackers related to the attack on the Kosovo Police in Banjska Zvecan in northern Kosovo. Unverified content was also published about the floods in Libya and the earthquake in Morocco.
Unverified content / conspiracy theory from the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia with a photograph showing an inscription of the acronym of the "Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA) as a tendency for the expulsion of Serbs.
Conspiracy theory from the Government Office for Kosovo that has published a statement by its head, Petar Petkovic, who claims that the arrest of three members of the Serbian community is being carried out with the aim of "expelling Serbs from Kosovo".
Clickbait articles related to murder, the death of the former president, smuggling, the shortage of olive oil, events whose location is not disclosed in the title, implying that the events are related to Kosovo.
Fake content on Telegram from the Serbian-language account “БУНТ је стънде духа”, with photos depicting graffiti-painted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy eating soldiers' body parts.
It is erroneously reported on information portals about the price of Nedim Bajrami's jersey, about the claim that "Prishtina Parking" has imposed a fine on an Urban Traffic bus because it was parked in spaces designed for people with special needs, as well as about an incident that occurred in Fushë Kosovë, which was reported to have occurred in Obiliq.
Misinformation that the European football body (UEFA) has punished the Albanian national team for two years by closing the two stands behind the goal during national team matches.
Edited photo hoax related to the September 22 explosion in the Bosniak Neighborhood in the north.
Unverified content
The Facebook page "The Reis" published a video on September 14th with the caption "A man waiting to be rescued amid a flood in Libya prayed under the rubble of a house." After researching through the online fact-checking platform "InVID", hibrid.info has confirmed that the video does not depict the September floods that occurred in Libya, but was filmed in December 2022 in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. (here)
The information portal named “info-albania.com” has published an article titled “'Who is the Albanian Federation?', Pochettino when asked about the Number: I only know Silvinjo and Zabaleta” The title written in this way implies that Mauricio Pochettino, the coach of Chelsea, the English football team, has declared that he has no knowledge about the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF), at the moment when he asked the question: “Who is the Albanian Federation?” However, hibrid.info has found that the Argentine coach's question was taken out of context, a question which Pochettino then clarifies. (here)
The Facebook page “Globi Islam” published a photo on September 9th, claiming that the image was taken after the earthquake that hit Morocco on September 10th. This photo has been verified by fact-checkers from India (NewsChecker.in), which has been confirmed not to have been taken after the earthquake in Morocco, but the same was taken after the tsunami and earthquake that hit the city of Kisenuma, Japan in March 2011. (here)
The Albanian-language platform “MeteoBallkan.com”, which mainly reports on weather forecasts, published a post on its Facebook page on September 15 announcing the number of deaths from floods in Libya. In this post, this platform uploaded four photos, but after fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that one of the images does not depict the floods in Libya, but was taken in 2021 in China. (here)
Albanian-language news portals have published an article claiming that a digital billboard in New York City displayed the phrase “Glory to Urine” instead of “Glory to Ukraine.” Fact-checkers from AFP (see here) after verifying the facts, have confirmed that the video footage presented with the phrase “Glory to Urine” is edited and as such was not displayed on one of the screens in New York. The article from the Albanian-language portals was based on a post from the “Sprinter” account on the social media X (formerly Twitter). (here)
Several Facebook pages have published a photo showing the body of a soldier, with the caption "Exclusive photo: Another Serbian terrorist killed in the north, two of their bodies found". After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the image does not depict the body of any of the attackers who attacked Kosovo Police (KP) officers in the north of the country on September 24, resulting in the death of one KP member and the injury of two others. The photo in question was found and published in March 2022 and belongs to a Russian soldier, during Russia's aggression in Ukraine. (here)
The Facebook page “Gazeta Aktuale” has published a photo of a killed soldier, which it has captioned “Serbian terrorist lying on the Dardanian soil”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the image depicts an Azerbaijani soldier killed on the front line in Nagorno-Karabakh, on April 6, 2016. (here)
Unverified content / Conspiracy theories
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has published a photograph showing an inscription of the acronym of the “Kosovo Liberation Army” (KLA) placed on a part of the “Sveti Sava” school building in Kllokot. Based solely on this photograph, this office has created a theory without any basis in fact that this was done as a result of hatred towards Serbs, especially children, as this office calls it, on the “ideological basis of Albin Kurti’s politics.” (here)
Conspiracy theory
The Government Office for Kosovo has published a statement by its chief, Petar Petkovic, who claims that the arrest of three members of the Serbian community is being carried out with the aim of “expelling Serbs from Kosovo”. He made these statements during a press conference, adding that these arrests, or as he calls them, “kidnappings are being carried out exclusively on the orders of Kurti, who wants to expel the Serbian people from Kosovo. It is an example of ethnic cleansing”. After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has found that Petkovic’s claim is not based on facts, and moreover, the Kosovo Police has announced that the arrest was made for the criminal offense of “War crimes against the civilian population”. (here)
Clickbait
The information portal “sot.com.al” published on September 16 the article titled “What is happening? 21 people are accused of cocaine smuggling, including the mayor and police officers”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the title does not clarify which mayor of which municipality it is referring to. Based on the “Contact” section on the website of this information portal, where his address appears to be in Tirana, this makes the general title leave room for misinformation among readers that it is about a journalist from an Albanian-speaking country. (here)
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article titled “Shocking: Father and daughter killed their children together from their intimate relationship”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title does not indicate in which country the event took place. The location is understood only in the content of the article, which explains that it is about an event that took place in Poland. Due to the fact that the information portal is registered in Kosovo and most of its readers are Albanian-speaking, the title leaves room for interpretation that the event took place in Kosovo. (here)
The information portal "Gazeta Shqip" has published an article titled "Football Championship in CHAOS! Violence during matches, referees rise in protest". Hibrid.info has verified the facts and has confirmed that the title does not indicate in which country the event took place. The location of the news is clarified only in the content of the article, which indicates that it is about an event that took place in Cyprus. Due to the fact that the information portal is registered in Albania (see here) and the content provided by this portal is in Albanian, the title leaves room for interpretation that the event took place in Albanian-speaking areas. (here)
The information portal “Gazeta-shqip.com” has published an article titled “Crisis for olive oil! Supermarkets tie bottles with chains to stop theft”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title is a generalization that does not indicate in which country the event took place. The location of the event is clarified only in the content of the article, which states “Spain is facing a crisis, which has led to an increase in the price of olive oil”. (here)
The information portal "Kosova sot" has published an article titled "Former President Passes Away". After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title is a generalization that does not clarify which former president of which country it is about. The news is clarified only in the content of the article, which states "Former President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano has passed away at the age of 98". (here)
Fake news
On the social media “Telegram” from the Serbian-language account “БУНТ је стънде духа” (Albanian: rebellion is a state of mind), two photos were published showing the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, painted in graffiti form, eating body parts of soldiers. After fact-checking by the platform “LeadStories.com”, it was confirmed that these graffiti do not exist, but are manipulated images. (here)
error
The information portal "GazetaOlle.com" has published the article titled "1,844 euros for the jersey of the Eurogoal scorer, Nedim Bajrami." After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title of this article is incorrect, as the Albanian National Football Team player's jersey, in an open auction by the Albanian Football Federation (here), was sold for 1 thousand 844 dollars, not euros. (here)
Several Albanian-language news portals have published an article titled “In Obiliq, a girl stabs her mother with a knife”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title and part of the content of the article are incorrect, as the Kosovo Police statement states that the incident took place in Fushë Kosovë, not in Obiliq, as claimed. (here)
Several information portals have published an article dated “September 16” claiming that “Prishtina Parking” has imposed a fine on a bus of Urban Traffic because it was parked in spaces designed for people with special needs. However, after verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the bus in question is not part of Urban Traffic, but of another private company. The portals’ article was built based on an announcement made by “Parking Prishtina”, but the latter has in no case emphasized that it is a bus of “Urban Traffic”. (here)
disinformation
The “Albania Team” Facebook page has published a post claiming that the European football body (UEFA) has punished the Albanian national team for two years by closing the two stands behind the goal during the national team’s matches. However, after verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been proven that the claim made by the aforementioned page is not true. The announcement made by the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF) states that UEFA has imposed a penalty of 44 thousand euros for throwing fireworks on the playing field during the match with Poland. Meanwhile, the decision to close the stadium has been suspended for a trial period, starting from the next home match with the Czech Republic. So, the trial period includes the condition that in the next home matches there will be no fireworks in the stadium. (here)
Lies
The news agency “Kosovapress” has published on its Facebook page a photo related to the September 22 explosion in the north. The photo shows a motorcycle, a car, 4 people near the car and a market, as well as a fire near them. After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has found that the photo does not represent today's explosion, and is edited since the fire seen there is not real and does not represent the explosion that occurred. (here)