Last week was characterized by the dominance of disinformation in the misinformation ecosystem.
Disinformation has been published in the media, dubious portals and social media related to various topics such as: claims by Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, regarding the anniversary of NATO's intervention in the former Yugoslavia in 1999 and the March riots in Kosovo in 2004; that Albanian is the first most spoken foreign language, or the 5th official language in Switzerland; that the US Ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, has stated that the US has come to regret bombing Serbia; as well as an image, showing Albin Kurti, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, and the former Prime Minister of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica, in the presence of each other.
Deceptive content has been published on social media claiming to be a "100% natural potency honey" product, which turns out to contain medication.
Fake news has been published on social media and dubious portals, falsely claiming the death of the son of artist Ardit Gjebrea and one of the dancers of the program he leads; it is falsely claimed that politician Monika Kryemadhi is suffering from cancer.
Clickbait articles have been published on information portals related to the article with the claim that it is Kosovo's turn, according to Vladimir Putin; and that Kosovo is expected to become the largest solar telescope, says Kosovar astronomer Pranvera Hyseni.
Posts on social media related to the publication of an image generated with artificial intelligence about the Israel-Hamas conflict; as well as the unfounded claim that Turkey has donated heavy military artillery to Kosovo have been assessed as unverified content.
A video posted on social media claiming that the footage depicts military service in Kiev (Ukraine) forcibly recruiting a citizen has been deemed unverified content/disinformation.
Lies
Several Facebook pages with content in Albanian have put up for sale a product with the inscription “HONEY FOR POTENCY”, claiming that it is a 100% natural product. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the product in question, called “Themra Epimedyumlu Bitkisel Karisimli Macun”, is not 100% natural and that it contains drugs. (here)
Several Facebook pages with content in Albanian have put up for sale a product called “MJALTË PËR POTENCË”, which is called “Wonderful Honey”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the product in question, called “Wonderful Honey”, is not 100% natural and is not recommended for use by everyone, which is not specified in the description of this product put up for sale by several Facebook pages. (here)
Fake news
A YouTube channel has published a video, through the title of which, it is claimed that Ardit Gjebrea's son has died. After verifying the facts, it was understood that the video shows a public reaction (which has not been found) of Gjebrea on social networks, after the death of a 19-year-old in Fier. Also, data found by hibrid.info, shows that Ardit Gjebrea's son has not passed away. (here)
The dubious portal with content in the Albanian language “belmouth.com” has published (March 18) an article entitled “PËRLOT Monika Kryemadhi – I am DYING, I have had Cancer for a long time and….”. The article contains a video material published on the Youtube.com platform, in which the reader of the report attached to the video in question, shows that in the past, Monika Kryemadhi, the wife of the former president of Albania, Ilir Meta, had suffered from cancer. So, the dubious portal “belmouth.com” has falsely claimed that Kryemadhi has stated that she is currently suffering from this disease. (here)
A Facebook account named “Blerta Pupi Mile” published (March 18) a post claiming that the British royal family “Buckingham Palace” has announced the death of King Charles III. This false claim about the death of King Charles III was also published on the X platform (formerly Twitter) by a Russian-language account “GazetaRu”. (here) After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has confirmed that the claim about the death of King Charles III is false. The Spanish fact-checking platform “Newtral.es” has received a response from “Buckingham Palace”, stating that “His Majesty continues with his official and private affairs”. (here)
A YouTube channel named “Perditesuesi” has published (March 1) a video material, titled “YOU WILL STAY IN OUR HEARTS! Andresa ends her life!”. The video material in question claims that the Brazilian presenter who lives in Albania, known from the television program “Albanian Sunday”, has ended her life. However, the verification of the facts by hibrid.info has refuted the aforementioned claim. The video material in question, up to the moment of treatment, has nearly 284 thousand views, while the channel that published it has 14 thousand and 700 followers. (here)
Clickbait
The information portal “ntv.al” has published (March 18) an article titled, “Here’s when it’s Kosovo’s turn, according to Vladimir Putin”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was found that in the content of this article, the information presented in the title is based on the statement of a former official of the United States Intelligence and Defense Agency, Rebekah Koffler, which is not clarified in the title. The lack of specification of the information in the title that it represents a statement or quote is understood and read as factual information. (here)
The information portal “Telegrafi.com” has published (March 20) an article titled “Kosovo is expected to have the largest solar telescope, says Kosovar astronomer Pranvera Hyseni”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title of this article does not match the content. The content of the article states that the telescope that astronomer Pranvera Hyseni is talking about is one of the largest, compared to other countries on the Balkan Peninsula, which is not explained in the title. (here)
disinformation
The dubious Albanian-language portal “xnews7.com” published (March 18) an article titled “A student goes missing, father publishes photo and calls for his recovery”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the news about the disappearance of a student in Prizren is old, published on March 11. Hibrid.info has researched through online search engines and has confirmed that the child who was reported missing on March 11 was found that same day. (here)
The portal “lecanton27.ch”, calling itself the first Albanian newspaper in Switzerland, published (March 19) an article titled “Albanian the first most spoken foreign language, or the 5th official language in Switzerland?” Hibrid.info has verified and found that, contrary to the title, the article’s headline states that Albanian is the most spoken language in Switzerland. However, hibrid.info has confirmed that Albanian is neither the most spoken foreign language, as claimed in the title, nor the most spoken language in Switzerland, as presented in the introduction to this article. (here)
In the Russian media, the Serbian language services have published a statement by the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, regarding the anniversary of the NATO intervention in the former Yugoslavia in 1999 and the March riots in Kosovo in 2004. Regarding the NATO intervention, Zakharova claims that 3000 missiles and 80000 tons of bombs were dropped. Meanwhile, regarding the March 2004 riots, Zakharova states that the victims were only Serbs and non-Albanian ethnic groups. Based on the facts published in international reports regarding the above events, it turns out that Zakharova's claims do not hold up. (here)
The information portal named “ntv.al” has published (March 22) an article, entitled “US regrets bombing Serbia, Ambassador Hill’s big statement”. After verifying the content of the article by hibrid.info, it was found that the information provided in the title, which claims that the US regrets bombing Serbia, represents the interpretation of one of the security experts cited in the article, who gave their assessments of a statement by the US Ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill. In addition to the fact that the title does not specify that the information represents an interpretation of the ambassador’s statement, it is written in the form of a statement coming from the ambassador himself. (here)
A Facebook account named “Shemsi Pllana” has published an image, which shows Albin Kurti, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, and the former Prime Minister of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica, in the presence of each other. The image was published in a public Facebook group, with 4 thousand 600 members, called “Diaspora with PDK”. After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has managed to find the original image, confirming that the published photo is edited. (here)
Clickbait/misinformation
The Facebook page called “Live News” published (March 21) an article titled “Friday brings storms, rain and snow! The thermometer drops by several degrees". But, after verifying the facts by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the article shared by this Facebook page was published on the website of the dubious portal "livenews10.com", on November 17 of last year (2023). The lack of clarification of the time context of the published information makes the title general, while also, based on the number of followers of the page (73 thousand), hibrid.info estimates that the article can be read by a considerable number of readers, who may take the news for granted. (here)
Unverified content
The Facebook page “The Reis” has published an image (March 21) showing a child sleeping in a muddy environment. This image contains the caption “SPEECHLESS ????????????”. Since the page has recently been publishing content related to the current situation in the Gaza Strip, the published image implies that it depicts the situation of children there. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this image is not real and that it was created using artificial intelligence. (here)
The Facebook page “Lajme Nga Bota” published a post on March 15 claiming that Turkey had donated heavy artillery to Kosovo, including 5 modernized M52T howitzers, with a decision signed by the presidents of the two countries. Despite the fact that the post states that it is reported by Turkish media, during the searches conducted by hibrid.info, no news related to the above claim was found. (here)
Unverified content/misinformation
The Albanian-language Facebook page “The Reis” has published a video claiming that the footage depicts military service in Kiev (Ukraine) forcibly recruiting a citizen. After research conducted by hibrid.info, the same video material was found published in online media in Ukraine, where it is stated that the causes of this event are unknown and that the patrol police in the city of Chernivtsi have launched an official investigation. Also, in the Ukrainian online medium “molbuk.ua”, it is stated that the video was shot in the city of Chernivtsi, and not in Kiev, as claimed by the Facebook page “The Reis”. (here)