The misinformation media ecosystem last week was dominated by articles categorized as “fake news.” The fake news was mainly related to the February 6 earthquake in Turkey, where they spread false news about the collapse of buildings that had nothing to do with the earthquake.
The unverified content was also related to the February 6 earthquake in Turkey, where articles were published with claims about the collapse of a hotel built three years ago, or images of collapsed buildings that were unrelated to the earthquake in Turkey.
We have had manipulation of facts by Serbian-language media, which have claimed that the statue of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, located in the Upper Neighborhood of Rahovec, was sprayed with graffiti by Kurti's hooligans (extremists).
Clickbait articles related to the competition announced by the Ministry of Finance and the visa deadline at the German embassy.
Fraudulent articles about lending and selling homes.
Unverified content
Several Albanian-language media outlets have published an article claiming that a hotel built three years ago was destroyed by an earthquake. Fact-checkers from Turkey say that the building in question was destroyed by an earthquake, but it is not true that it was built three years ago, but has existed for at least 20 years. (here)
Several Albanian-language online media outlets have published an article with footage of a building, part of which is torn off during the earthquake. The aforementioned media outlets have claimed (based on a video on Twitter) that the footage is from the February 6 earthquake in Turkey. However, after verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the footage is from the 2016 earthquake in Japan. (here)
The photo shared on its Facebook page by “koha.net”, in connection with today's earthquake in Turkey, turns out to be old. The photo, which shows a little girl shaking the hand of a rescuer after being rescued from the rubble caused by the earthquake, is related to the 2020 earthquake in Izmir, Turkey. (here)
Fake news
Several Facebook pages and a TikTok account have published a video showing a building collapsing. This material has been given a fabricated description claiming that the footage depicts moments from the earthquake in Turkey that occurred on the morning of February 6. After research, hibrid.info has managed to find information about this false claim, initially made by the fact-checkers from Spain “Maldita.es”, which clarifies that the footage was shot in Saudi Arabia. (here)
The Albanian-language online medium “Ntv.al” has published an article with a photo of a dog, claiming that the image was taken after the February 6 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria. However, after verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the photo is old, taken by photographer Jaroslav Noska and published on the British photo agency “Alamy” on October 18, 2018. So in this article, the content is false, claiming that the photo was taken somewhere in the earthquake-affected regions in Turkey or Syria. (here)
The portals “Veriu.info” and “Kosovarja-ks.com” have posted a photo of a child sitting near some ruins on their Facebook pages, claiming that it was taken after the February 6 earthquake in Turkey. However, after verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the photo does not belong to this event, as claimed, but has been circulating on the internet since May 11, 2019. Also, the aforementioned pages have given this post a false description claiming that the photo was taken after the earthquake in Turkey. (here)
The TikTok account “veqhajt.p” on February 7 published a 6-second video claiming that Kosovo was hit by a 4.7 magnitude earthquake at 13:12 p.m. After research conducted by hibrid.info on online earthquake reporting platforms, no information was found about any earthquake in Kosovo in recent days. Also, on February 7 at 13:12 p.m., it was confirmed that an earthquake was recorded in central Turkey. (here)
Several Facebook pages have published an image of Hajredin Kuçi taken at the premises of the Special Court in The Hague, claiming that the former Minister of Justice has begun work in the defense of former KLA soldiers. After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the photo was published in February 2022, at the time when Kuçi had become part of Kadri Veseli's defense at the Special Court in The Hague. (here)
The Facebook page “The Path to Islam” has published a video from 2017, which shows storms with large waves on the beach of the city of Durban in South Africa. However, through this video, this page has falsely claimed that the images shown are from the earthquake that hit Turkey this morning (February 6). (here)
Manipulation of facts
Several Serbian-language media outlets, based on a tweet by the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, have claimed that the statue of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, located in the Upper Neighborhood of Rahovec, was sprayed with graffiti by Kurti's hooligans (Extremists). Based on media reports, residents of the town have stated that they do not know the perpetrators of the crime and law enforcement agencies have arrested three people in connection with the case, emphasizing the fact that the crime is suspected to have been committed under the influence of alcohol. (here)
Clickbait
The portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article about a person who was stabbed at the “Termini” train station in Rome. This online medium is a portal that operates in Kosovo and that has the dominant number of readers from Kosovo, based on the page’s followers on Facebook. Therefore, not providing information about the location of the incident can very easily misinform readers, making them think that this event took place in Kosovo. (here)
The dubious portal “truenewsq.com” has published an article from 2021, at a time when the German Embassy in Kosovo had announced that only people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are able to register on the waiting list for an appointment. This dubious portal has tried to present this old article as current, thus leaving room for misinformation among readers. (here)
Several Facebook pages published yesterday (February 5) a competition for 100 interns, announced by the Ministry of Finance. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this competition is old, published in October 2022. While the aforementioned pages have tried to present it as current. (here)
Lies
The “Personal Loan” page, which has over 3 followers, falsely claims to offer online loans of up to 300 euros in just 45 minutes. The campaigns published by this page belong to financial institutions in Kosovo and Albania, which it tries to appropriate by removing their authentic logos. (here)
The suspicious portal “newslink4.com” has published a false advertisement for the sale of an apartment (4+1), claiming that it is urgently for sale for 49,990 euros. Hibrid.info, after verifying the facts, has managed to confirm that the description of this advertisement belongs to another apartment located in Tirana, and not the one claimed and priced at 220 thousand euros. While the photograph shows the advertisement of another apartment located in Durrës, which is 50 square meters and priced at 50 thousand euros. (here)
error
The portals “Insajderi.org” and “Korrespodenti.com” have published the interview conducted by Ekonomia Online with the director of the Vascular Surgery Clinic, Hajriz Rudari, who spoke about the problems in this clinic, one of which is the lack of anesthesiologists. However, the aforementioned portals have incorrectly titled this article with the claim that there is a lack of anesthesia in this clinic. (here)