PREPARED: Astrit Veliqi
An article was published on an information portal in Kosovo stating that Democratic League of Kosovo MP Agim Veliu will be part of the list of MPs from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) in the February 9 elections.
The article was published by "Indeksonline.net" yesterday (November 13). It stated that LDK MP Agim Veliu will be a candidate for MP from AAK in the elections to be held next year on February 9.
What did hibrid.info find?
Research conducted by hibrid.info found that the article in question has already been deleted from this portal's website. (see photo below)
However, hibrid.info has managed to find the link to this article published by Indeksonline.net on "fax.al". (see here)
The content was also found on another portal “gazetaprojekti.com”, in whose content “Indeksonline.net” is cited as a source of information (see here).
Meanwhile, MP Agim Veliu was contacted by the news portal “Reporteri.net”. Here, he denied the claim that he will be a candidate for MP in these elections (see here)
"I have never had a conversation with a living person, nor has it ever occurred to me to do that job. It is a lie," Veliu is quoted as saying.
Later, in a reaction on his Facebook account, MP Veliu emphasized that a fake news story published by Indeksonline.net, that he would allegedly be on the list of AAK candidates for MP, was quickly spread across portals.
A fake news story published by Indeksonline, claiming that I would be on the list of AAK candidates for MP, quickly spread across portals.
Such news during the campaign period, besides being false, makes me suspect that it was commissioned by those who want to attack my personality and the Democratic League of Kosovo.
But, for all those who claim to see me outside the LDK in any form, I have a message: no one and no force can remove Agim Veliu from the LDK," it is said among other things in his reaction.(see here)
Analyze:
It was claimed that Agim Veliu will be the candidate of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) to run on the list for MPs in the national elections to be held on February 9.
The article, originally published by the portal "Indeksonline.net", as exclusive news, has since been deleted, but it still appears on Google. In fact, the article in question has also been published on at least one other Albanian-language information portal.
Veliu himself, in a statement for the "Reporteri.net" portal, denied the rumors that he will run for MP on the AAK list. He also said that he has not had any discussions with anyone about this job, while in a reaction on "Facebook" he expressed that such news during the campaign directly attacks his personality as well as the LDK.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the article published by Indeksonline as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.
This article was prepared as part of the project 'Countering Disinformation through Innovation and Experimental Learning', supported by the Embassy of the United States of America in Pristina. The article has been verified by the Hibrid.info team and experts engaged to ensure compliance with our fact-checking methodology. This article contains factual verifications, but does not necessarily reflect the views of Hibrid.info or the US Embassy.