An image of the front page of the Serbian newspaper "Večernje Novosti" has been made public, where the headline states that Lumir Abdixhiku has initiated extraordinary elections and has received recognition from Belgrade for this.
While the subtitle states that the Serbian Vice President thanked Lumir Abdixhiku, the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), evaluating his action as important for stabilizing the circumstances and opening space for dialogue.
The image in this format was published on Wednesday (April 29) on Facebook by an account named "Lorenc Maleta" (see here).
What's wrong with the content?
Hibrid.info found that this content is generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
This image was also published in two public groups on Facebook with the names "RTK”And“Historian Elena Koçaci ✅ " from an account named "Sa Ismaili".
The caption on these posts reflects what the newspaper's front page headline says, writing that "Lubomir Abdixhiku, call for extraordinary elections - thanks from Belgrade."
Account "Lawrence Maleta" has over 8 thousand followers, while her post has over 800 likes, over 600 comments, and over 1 thousand shares.
While the groups "RTK”And“Historian Elena Kocaci ✅” have 2 and 400 members, respectively over 26 members. As of the time of writing, the post in the “RTK” group has over 300 likes, over 200 comments and over 160 shares, while in the “Historian Elena Koçaci ✅” group the post has over 200 likes, over 230 comments and over 170 shares.
Based on the content of the comments on these posts, it can be assessed that the audience is likely to perceive the claim as credible.
After translating using “Google Lens”, it was noticed that in the image the name of the leader of the LDK, Lumir Abdixhiku, was misspelled in the headline as “LUBOMIRU ABDIKSIJU”. The text cites a “Vice President of Serbia” (Zamenik predsednika Srbije), but in the Serbian political system this position does not officially exist, as the country has a President, but not a Vice President (see here).
Also, the portrait of the LDK leader is presented visually deformed.
On the right side of the image, a faint logo with the TikTok symbol and a username ( @22ss564 ) can be seen, confirming the original source of the post.
Hibrid.info checked TikTok and found the image published on this account (see here). The content was published 22 hours ago and has over 24 thousand views.
The platform has placed a notification label on this content that reads "Contains AI-generated media".
Given this possibility and despite all the factual, technical and visual omissions displayed in the content, hibrid.info checked the image downloaded from the TikTok platform using "HiveModeration", the platform for identifying AI-generated content.
The results from the verification confirmed that the image has a high probability (98.8%) of being created by this technology.
Another thing that is noticeable is the fact that the image shows that this issue of the newspaper belongs to the date May 22, 2024. Hibrid.info has found the original front page of this newspaper after a research done on the official website “novosti.rs”, for the specified date. The front page of the newspaper printed on this date is completely different from the one presented in the image discussed above (see here).
A little context
Kosovo will go to early elections within 45 days, after the Assembly failed to elect a new president within the constitutional deadline that ended on April 28.
The opposition parties (PDK and LDK) boycotted the sessions and refused to create the quorum of 80 deputies, as they said, to oppose the aim of the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) to control the three main state institutions.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti made several offers, including inclusion in the government, the post of speaker of parliament, or the proposal of non-partisan candidates, but these were rejected by the opposition as "unserious."
LVV initially proposed Glauk Konjufca and Fatmire Mulhaxha Kollçaku, but then replaced them with Feride Rushiti and Hatixhe Hoxha, a move that was described by the opposition as a "constitutional coup".
The process came after a Constitutional Court decision giving MPs 34 days to elect a successor to Vjosa Osmani, whose term officially ended on April 4 (see here).
Analyze:
An image from the Serbian newspaper "Večernje Novosti" claimed that Lumir Abdixhiku had initiated extraordinary elections in Kosovo and was officially thanked by official Belgrade for this action.
However, verification confirmed that the image was generated by Artificial Intelligence, a fact confirmed by the warning label on TikTok. The content also contains technical errors such as the spelling of the name “Lubomiru Abdiksiju”, the reference to a non-existent position (Vice President of Serbia) and has a distorted visual portrait.
Furthermore, research of the newspaper's official website showed that the original front page dated May 22, 2024 bears no resemblance to the manipulated image.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.