An image is published showing results of support for political parties in Kosovo, from a public opinion survey.
Content published on Thursday (May 14) on Facebook by the page named "Mërgata me LDK-në", claims that this survey was conducted by the university college "UBT".
What's wrong with the content?
The content falsely presents UBT as the source of the survey and has no methodology.
Home who published the post has over 7 thousand followers and publishes content in support of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).
By the time of treatment, the content had prompted reactions, receiving more than 100 likes and over 20 comments, from the content of which it can be assessed that the audience is likely to perceive the event as credible.
The content of the article presents data according to which the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) ranks first with 31% support, followed by the Self-Determination Movement (LVV) with 29%. The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) ranks third with 27%, while the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) ranks last with about 7%.
The sum of these percentages results in 94%.
To assess the credibility of this alleged survey, hibrid.info has verified whether it meets the standards and criteria required for such a measurement of public opinion.
What are surveys?
A survey is a preliminary research to identify a situation, opinions or attitudes about something specific. In this statistical method, results are drawn based on the study of a part of the population, called a sample.
Based on an article by the Pew Research Institute (a research institute for fact-based surveys and studies), it clarifies what information should be sought about how a survey was conducted.
Who conducted the survey and who sponsored it?
Who was interviewed?
How was the survey conducted?
How were people selected for the survey?
When was the survey conducted?
How many people were interviewed?
Was the survey weighted? If so, how?
Do the survey questions seem neutral and fair?
Hibrid.info noted that this content did not meet the main criteria of a credible survey. The content presented the university college "UBT" as the source of this survey.
Hibrid.info has researched the Facebook page of this higher education institution. However, no post was found in the announcements of this page that presents a survey conducted by "UBT" (see here).
The image lacks essential technical data such as the sample (how many people were interviewed), the method of selecting people, the time period when the survey was conducted, and the interviewing method. Furthermore, the lack of neutral questions and the use of emotionally charged language in the graphic cast doubt on the authenticity of the results, making it impossible to verify whether the survey was weighted or whether it accurately represents the opinion of a segment of the population.
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Hibrid.info also searched the Google search engine with the keywords "Kosovo poll", limiting the results to publications from the last 30 days (see here). Apart from several publications of non-credible surveys and fact-checkers' treatment of these claims, the results of this search have not revealed any credible articles that would confirm the existence of this or any other alleged survey.
Another fact that makes the content suspicious is image detection, through "HiveModeration.com", the platform for analyzing content such as images, video or audio, using artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The result after analysis showed a high possibility that this image used to present the claim was generated by AI.
Analyze:
The claim that a survey of support for political parties in Kosovo was conducted by the UBT university college is untrue.
The content lacks basic methodological data of a survey, such as the sample size, the method of selecting respondents, the period of implementation, and the method of interviewing, and there is no official confirmation from UBT for the implementation of such a survey.
Also, a Google search for surveys published in Kosovo did not identify any credible source confirming this measurement, while image analysis through "HiveModeration" showed a high possibility that the image was generated with artificial intelligence.
Therefore, based on the evaluation methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Fake News".
rationale
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.