Wrote: Endrit Berisha
A TikTok post claimed to be about the publication of a new survey regarding the parliamentary elections in Kosovo.
The publication was made by the account named "tavnikcitypdk".
What's wrong with this post?
After verification, hibrid.info found that this publication uses data from an old survey. It even changed the names of the political parties leading in the survey.
"BREAKING NEWS ???? ???? ????in the latest poll Vetevendosje has a big drop in votes while PDK is leading ???? ???? ????" says the caption that this account used on the poll photo.
"Tavnikcitypdk" published this material in February 2024, and recently turned it into a "pin" post (a post set apart to stay on the account's main page).
"SHPERNDANE ALL PDK IS RETURNING TO WHERE IT BELONGS ??????? ??????????" this account further wrote in the post in question.
The publication link of the account in question:
What is manipulation?
After verification, hibrid.info found that the publication used data from a research published in December 2022, by the "PIPOS" Institute on the "Rubikon" show on KlanKosova (see here). According to the institute, the question for respondents was which party they would vote for, if parliamentary elections were held that day.
In the results published by "PIPOS", the Vetëvendosje Movement (VV) was in the lead with 35.5%. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) was second with 22.2% and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) was third with 21.5%.
Meanwhile, in the TikTok post by the account "tavnikcitypdk", the order of the parties on the list has been changed. It places PDK in first place (35.5%), VV in second (22.2%), and LDK (21.5%) in third.
The percentages and names of other parties have remained the same.
The TikTok post has so far garnered over 146 views. It has received more than 2300 likes and more than 2700 comments. (here)
Analyze:
The account named "tavnikcitypdk" on TikTok has claimed to publish a new poll regarding the parliamentary elections in Kosovo.
After verification, hibrid.info has found that this is not a new poll. This publication uses data from an old poll, and manipulations have been made by changing the order of the parties on the list.
Based on its working methodology, hybrid.info rates the content as "Fraud".
Reasoning:
The “Deception” rating is given to informational content that is manipulated in terms of visual (deepfake, cheapfake), audio, or textual content to deceive the audience. This form of deception is usually used to produce false and manipulated content.