An image has been published showing a person attacking a member of the Kosovo Police, with the caption claiming that the incident took place in Skenderaj.
Here it is alleged that the action was carried out by persons associated with Sami Lushtaku, who in these contents are referred to as "Sami Lushtaku's gangs".
The image with this claim was published on Sunday (May 17) on Facebook by accounts with the names "Avni Ukshini”And“Elez Neziraj".
What is the truth?
There is no confirmation that such an event occurred in Skenderaj, while the claim was published accompanied by an image generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The contents were published two days after Lushtak was interviewed at the Skenderaj police station regarding the alleged physical attack on Deputy Minister of Finance, Hysni Mehani, on May 14 in a city cafe.
Luistaku was interviewed last Friday (May 15), while the media reported that a group of citizens gathered in front of the police station were present during the interview (see here). There were even reports of roadblocks by gathered citizens (see here).
However, there were no reports in the media of physical violence by those present.
Hibrid.info has researched the Kosovo Police Facebook page. From the publications of this institution, the alleged action has not been confirmed (see here).
The results displayed after searching via Google also did not show any sources that would confirm the claim of a physical attack on the Kosovo Police in Skenderaj (see here).
Because the image through which the claim was presented contains visual distortions and text indicating that it was generated by artificial intelligence (AI), hibrid.info researched further to verify it.
Through "HiveModeration.com", which is a platform for detecting content generated by this technology, it was confirmed that the image in question has a high possibility of being generated by AI.
Analyze:
The claim that a member of the Kosovo Police was attacked in Skenderaj is incorrect.
There is no official or media confirmation of such an event, while public reports only relate to the presence of citizens during the interview of Sami Lushtaku at the police station, without any incidents of violence against the police.
Also, the image used to illustrate the claim contains text indicating that it was generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and has been assessed with a high probability as such by Hive Moderation.
Therefore, based on the evaluation methodology, hibrid.info assesses the content as "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.