Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
On Sunday, December 28, content was published on the social media platform Facebook that purported to present the results of an online poll for the December 28 parliamentary elections.
Page "Podujeva Today"published content on Facebook claiming that an online survey had been published. After clicking on article attached to the post, percentage figures are given for several political entities (see here)
Hibrid.info has searched in Google these percentages, but the results do not show any published articles in the media or credible sources.
Also, the article lacks basic information that would enable the determination of the reliability and validity of the content, such as data on who conducted and where the alleged survey was published.
What are surveys?
A survey is a preliminary research to know a situation, opinions or attitudes about something specific. In this statistical method Results are drawn based on the study of a portion of the population, called a sample.
Based on the institute's article Peew Research (research institute for surveys and evidence-based studies), it is clarified what information should be requested 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?
Polls as a social media phenomenon before elections:
Fake polls as a form of opinion manipulation on social media were also detected during the period before and during the election campaign of the parliamentary elections of February 9 this year. During this period, hibrid.info had verified 36 fake polls. Before the start of the election campaign, hibrid.info had warned readers about the dangers of inaccurate information that could be published during this time, also mentioning fake polls as one of the forms of misinformation content. The pace of publications of fake polls continued for the local elections held on October 12 and November 9. (see here)
President Vjosa Osmani On November 20, he decided to dissolve the Assembly and announced December 28 as the date for early parliamentary elections.
Analyze:
The Facebook page "Podujeva Sot" has published content that falsely claimed to be an online poll for the parliamentary elections. The article provided percentage figures for some of the political entities in Kosovo.
After fact-checking by hibrid.info, searching with the keywords the percentages that were put in the aforementioned article, it was confirmed that no measurements for the December 28 elections have been published in any credible source of information.
Also, the content lacks the basic data necessary to be considered a survey.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this claim 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.