On social media Facebook, the page “Minuti Newspaper" published a post on Sunday (April 19) that featured a portrait of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, as well as the caption "UNDER KURT'S LEADERSHIP / ACCORDING TO THE IMF, KOSOVO HAS THE GREATEST ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE REGION".
The link to the article "" is also provided in the comments section of this post.gazetaminuti.info".
What's wrong with this content?
After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it turns out that the title is inaccurate and presents the information in a misleading manner.
After clicking on the article, it becomes clear that the news refers to a report published on April 16 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which states that Kosovo EXPECTED to have the highest economic growth in the region, with around 3.6% in the coming years. So, it is a prediction, not for a confirmed current increase.
Moreover, the wording of the sentence "UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF KURT" is unfounded in the content of the article, as the IMF report does not mention the prime minister's name at all and does not link this report to any specific figure or government.
To reinforce the fact that this is a forecast and not actual growth, hibrid.info has found media reports that accurately present the content of the International Monetary Fund report (see here and here).
The content published by "Gazeta Minuti" was also found and shared by other Facebook pages such as, "Kosovo and Diaspora"and "Trendi.info". Both of these pages have published in the comments the link to the article from the website "gazetaminuti.info".
About the “Gazeta Minuti” Facebook page
Hibrid.info has addressed some content published by this page on Facebook. Also, a deeper analysis of this page shows that “Gazeta Minuti” publishes content on Facebook and on the website “nminut.info” and “gazetaminuti.info” without providing transparency about ownership or contacts; although “About Us” mentions Arbnor Buzhala as the founder, this data is not verified, the declared domain does not match the content and does not appear as a business registered with ARBK, raising doubts about its reliability.
Lexo here full analysis about the "Gazeta Minuti" website.
Analyze
The Facebook post by the “Gazeta Minuti” page incorrectly presents the IMF report, referring to a forecast for Kosovo’s economic growth as a fait accompli. In reality, the report talks about growth projections in the coming years, not actual growth.
Also, the mention of Kurti in this post is unfounded, as there is no reference in the report that links this prediction to his leadership or any specific government.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Disinformation" and "Clickbait".
rationale
"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.
“Clickbait” is considered to be informational content whose title is general and does not disclose the location of the event, context and relevance. Such texts and articles aim to attract the attention of the audience with sensational headlines with misleading consequences, which do not accurately clarify the content of the article. “Clickbait” headlines are mainly made to attract readability in the case of media publications and/or to earn from clicks in the case of commercial publications.