Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
Monitoring shows that over the last week (September 22–28, 2025), the misinformation space in the media and social media has been dominated by fake news.
During the monitoring period, fake news was mainly distributed on TikTok and Facebook. On TikTok, a fake poll was published by the account “podujevax” for the elections in Podujevo, as well as manipulated content attributing the statement “Palestine is Israeli land – Kosovo will never recognize it!” to the acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, by the account “karlmartineli”. A manipulated post was also distributed on this platform claiming that PDK MP Abelard Tahiri had offended Vetëvendosje voters, posing as an article from “Reporteri.net”. On Facebook, the page “Universal” published a fabricated poll for the elections in Gjakova, while the page “Kosova e Re” published two fake polls for candidates in Ferizaj and Lipjan. The main topics of this fake news were manipulated election polls and untrue statements by politicians.
In addition to fake news about the election polls, economic and diplomatic disinformation was also spread during the week. On Facebook, the page “Kosova e Re” published a false claim that the price of bread in Kosovo had increased to 70 cents, using an April 2025 material from TV Syri Vizion, which in fact referred only to the price increase in Gjakova. Meanwhile, the page “Gunpowder Chronicles” published an unfounded article claiming that the German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, had been dismissed from his post. This claim was denied by the German Embassy, which explained to hibrid.info that his mandate was only temporarily extended until the arrival of the new ambassador in October.
A case of fact-finding was identified on TikTok, where a video posted on Friday (September 26) by the account “podujeva072” purported to present a statement by acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti during his recent visit to the US. In the video, which appeared on September 26, 2025, Kurti was seen speaking from an airplane. However, after verification, hibrid.info determined that the material was not actual, but a video posted by Kurti himself on Facebook on May 13, 2022.
Unverified content was published by the media outlet “botasot.info” on September 26, claiming that Kosovo did not participate in the meeting of Balkan leaders in the US and that it was not invited to regional discussions. These claims were dismissed, as President Vjosa Osmani attended the meeting with an official invitation, but arrived late due to the agenda.
Fake news
On the social network TikTok, on Sunday (September 21), a material was distributed claiming to be a survey conducted by the “Polis Institute”, which presented the percentage of support for the candidates for mayor of the Municipality of Podujeva. The post was published by the account named “podujevax”. It claims that Shpejtim Bulliqi is leading with 57.1%, followed by Ekrem Hyseni with 27.9% and Isak Shabani with 11.4%, while 3.6% was attributed to other candidates. After verification of the facts conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this survey is fake. (here)
A photo has been published depicting an informative article claiming that acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has declared: “Palestine is Israeli land – Kosovo will never recognize it!” This content was published on Monday (September 22) on TikTok by an account named “karlmartineli”. Hibrid.info has found that Kurti has never publicly declared on this issue. (here)
A Facebook post from the “Universal” page claimed that a poll by the “SDSG” institute showed that Ardian Gjini (AAK) leads the race for mayor of Gjakova with 39.7%, followed by Ervin Shabani (PDK) with 27.3% and Ardian Gola (LVV) with 25.5%. The poll also mentioned Shefqet Shehu (LDK) with 6.7% and Anton Shala (PSHDK) with 0.8%. After verification by hibrid.info, it was found that there is an organization named “SDSG” in the USA, but it deals with sustainable energy and natural resource development, not political polls. Accordingly, the mentioned poll has no basis and has not been found published by any reliable media. (here)
Two pieces of content have been published claiming to present polls for mayors in the local elections of October 12 in Ferizaj and Lipjan. The publications were made by the “Kosova e Re” Facebook page on September 24. The posts claim that the poll has resulted in Agim Aliu of the Democratic Party of Kosovo in Ferizaj and Imri Ahmeti of the Democratic League of Kosovo in Lipjan as winners without a runoff. After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this poll is fake. (here)
A TikTok post claimed that PDK MP Abelard Tahiri said that "all voters of Albin Kurti and Vetëvendosje are people of Serbia", presenting it as an article published by "Reporteri.net" on September 23, 2025. After verification, it turned out that Tahiri did not make such a statement and that it was manipulated with an old "Reporteri.net" article (September 11, 2019), whose title and date had been changed. (here)
disinformation
A Facebook post from the page “Kosova e Re” claimed that the price of bread in Kosovo has increased to 70 cents. After verification, hibrid.info found that this claim is incorrect. The photo used was taken from an April 2025 video by TV Syri Vizion, which reported on the increase in the price of bread only in Gjakova, while there are no credible media reports of such an increase at the national level. (here)
In an article published by the website “Gunpowder Chronicles”, an unfounded claim has been made that the German Ambassador, Jorn Rohde, has been dismissed from his position. This claim is rejected by the party mentioned in the article (the German Embassy in Kosovo) giving their official position which is completely different. In a response to Hibrid.info, this diplomatic mission states that Ambassador Rohde’s regular mandate “would have ended by the end of June 2025”, but that he has been asked to continue his mandate until the newly appointed ambassador “is released from his previous obligations in October”. (here)
Manipulation of facts
A video posted on TikTok purports to be a statement by acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti during his recent visit to the United States of America (USA). The video posted on Friday (September 26) by the account “podujeva072” also shows the date September 26, 2025. It shows Kurti speaking from an airplane. The video is not current. Hibrid.info has found that the video was posted by Kurti on Facebook on May 13, 2022. (here)
Unverified content/Disinformation
The medium “botasot.info” published on Friday (September 26) an article titled “Grenell gathers Balkan leaders in the US – Kosovo outside the table, Albania sits next to Serbia”. In the article, in addition to the claim that Kosovo did not participate, it was also stated that “Kosovo was not invited to the regional discussions”. This is refuted through reports that prove with photographs the participation of President Vjosa Osmani. The statement based on the photographs in which Osmani was not seen that “Kosovo was not invited to the regional discussions” is also incorrect. The presidency announced that it participated in the meeting at the invitation of the organizers, but that it was late due to other meetings. (here)