Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
Articles are being published claiming that the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) manipulated a photograph from the search operation for the body of a 33-year-old man in Lake Ujman, in the Zubin Potok Municipality, by removing KFOR vehicles from the image, to present the operation as being carried out exclusively by the Kosovo Security Force (KSF).
Referring to the publications of journalists Lirim Mehmetaj and Vehbi Kajtazi on their Facebook accounts, the content with these claims was published on Tuesday (July 29) by several media outlets such as: “democracy.com","balkani.info","north.info","paparaci.com”And“radiovala.net".
But what is the truth?
Hibrid.info has not found any evidence of manipulation or interference in the photograph, which the aforementioned media outlets have reported on.
Ejup Maqedonci, the acting Minister of Defense, published on Tuesday (July 29), on his Facebook account, a status announcing the engagement of the specialized diving and search and rescue units of the KSF, in support of civil authorities in the search for the body of the migrant in Lake Ujman in the Municipality of Zubin Potok (see here).
The Macedonian has attached to this status a photograph showing the engagement of KSF members in this operation.
One of these Photography, where two KSF vehicles are seen, along the road, was published by LVV, through which it was claimed that the KSF had landed for the first time as an army, in the north of the country (see here).
However, from journalists Mehmedaj and Kaytazi, another photo of the same area has been published, where next to the KSF vehicles, two KFOR vehicles, the NATO military mission in Kosovo, are also shown. They have claimed that in the photo published by Macedonia and then by LVV, the KFOR vehicles have been interfered with, removing them, in order to present a different reality, what this political entity intended.
These claims by the two journalists have been published as news by several media outlets.
In the photo released by the acting minister of Macedonia and the LVV (let's call it "Photo 1"), two KSF vehicles are seen. One vehicle has a trailer attached and the other is a loading vehicle. In the image, two people are seen positioned at a distance from each other (one of them appears to be wearing a police uniform), and the hands of a third person are visible, who appears to be holding a camera.
In the photo published by Mehmetaj and Kajtazi (let's call it "Photo 2"), two KFOR vehicles are shown marked in red. One of them is white, positioned on the same side and direction as the two KSF vehicles, while the other is located in the same direction, but on the opposite side of the road. The photo also shows a person slightly bent at the edge of the image, as well as another who is not fully visible, as he is positioned behind the KFOR vehicle.
Differences noted by Hibrid.info
In “Photo 1”, the person dressed in white is not standing completely upright, while in “Photo 2”, based on the visible part of his body behind the KFOR vehicle, he appears to be standing in an upright position.
Another difference is seen in the person shown at the edge of the photos. In “Photo 1”, only his hands are visible, which are holding a camera, while in “Photo 2”, we have a full view of him, where he is shown bent over, with the camera in his hands. However, in this view, unlike “Photo 1”, this person’s hands are not visible.
Differences are also observed in the slope of the white line marking the edge of the road, where it can be seen that in "Photo 2" there is a more pronounced slope on the left side than in "Photo 1".
In one video published by Valon Kerrolli, an expert on social networks, explaining what a possible intervention in this photograph would look like, after the removal of the KFOR vehicle, it is seen that the appearance of the cut rock face changes. In “Photo 1”, it is observed that this view of the cut rock face has preserved its natural appearance, with all the elements around it (an orange can, a white marker, the barns, etc.).
Photo 1
Photo 2
Comparison of the images of the cut rock face in the video by Valon Kerolli and in "Photo 1"
Another fact that refutes the claim of photo manipulation is that these two photos were published on Tuesday (July 29) on the Facebook page of the online medium, "kallxo.com", in this medium's announcement of the arrival of the KSF at Lake Ujmani (see here).
Hibrid.info also used the online tool "Photo Forensics" for digital analysis of this photograph.
After verifying the “Error Level Analysis” (ELA) through this tool, no visible signs of manipulation were shown in the photograph.
After analyzing the photo's metadata, it was found that this photo was most likely downloaded from a social network (Facebook) or some other platform, as it lacks the original EXIF.
Although there are no clear indications of manipulation, the lack of original data makes it difficult to confirm photo manipulation.
A similar assessment of the photograph came after verification using the advanced language model, which uses artificial intelligence "Chat GPT".
The authenticity of the allegedly manipulated photo was also checked by hibrid.info through the "HiveModeration" platform, dedicated to evaluating content created by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The results of this platform show no possibility that the photo was created by AI.
Analyze:
The photograph from the operation on Lake Ujman, which is alleged to have been manipulated by LVV by removing KFOR vehicles to present the action as carried out exclusively by the KSF, does not appear to have been manipulated.
Hibrid.info, after visual and digital analysis (through Photo Forensics, ELA analysis, metadata, Chat GPT and the HiveModeration platform), has found no evidence of any interference or manipulation in the photographs.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this claim as "Unverified Content".
Reasoning:
The "Unverified" rating is given to those informative contents that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which could not be verified due to certain circumstances (speed, lack of sources) during the publication of the content.