Clickbait content has dominated the misinformation ecosystem over the past week.
The articles that were assessed as clickbait were related to topics such as the reason for the selection of French referees for the Romania-Kosovo match, murders, deaths of workers in the workplace, fatal accidents, in the titles of which the location of the event is not disclosed, leaving room to understand that they occurred in Kosovo.
Last week, a misleading piece of content was published on the X platform (formerly Twitter) claiming that the Vatican is run by UFOs (extraterrestrials).
Unverified content has also been published in the misinformation ecosphere about claims that Vedat Muriqi is showing the Kosovo flag to Romanians, that Turkish coach Fatih Terim is in talks with the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) about the possibility of taking over as Kosovo coach.
Lies
Several posts have been published on social media platforms Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) claiming that the Vatican is run by UFOs (extraterrestrials). This claim is made in reference to a coat of arms of a Roman Catholic cardinal, which is said to be a flying saucer (UFO). However, after fact-checking by Reuters, it has been proven that this symbol does not represent a UFO as claimed, but rather a red hat with long tassels on both sides. (here)
Clickbait
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article titled “Here’s why it was decided that only French referees will referee the Romania – Kosovo match”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title does not correspond to the content. The title attempts to present that there is a reason why the European football body (UEFA) has decided that only French referees will referee the Romania – Kosovo match, which is expected to take place today starting at 20:45. However, the content states that UEFA has decided that French referees will referee this match, but no reason is given as to why this decision was made, as the title attempts to present. (here)
The information portal “gazeta-shqip.com” has published the article titled “SERIOUS! Policeman kills woman and then himself”. With the verification of facts carried out by hibrid.info, it is confirmed that the title does not clarify in which country the event took place. After clicking on the link to the article, the news is then clarified in the content section, where it is stated that “A serious event has occurred in Thessaloniki”. Knowing that the address of the information portal in the “PERSONAL DATA” section appears to be in Tirana (see here), this means that the lack of specification of the place where the news took place leaves room for misinformation that it is about an event that took place in Albania. (here)
The Facebook page “Atdheu Lajm” published on September 9 an article titled “'Drowning in debt', family of 9 members ends their lives”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the news is old, published in June 2022 and that the event took place in India. Therefore, the aforementioned page published this article with the claim of presenting it as current, also by not specifying in the title the location of the event. (here)
The information portal “Kosova sot” has published an article titled “6 workers die after crane collapses”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the title does not indicate in which country the event occurred. The location is understood from the content of the article, which explains that it is about an event that occurred at a construction site in the southwestern city of China, Chengdu. Given the fact that the information portal is registered in Kosovo (see here) and most of its readers are Albanian-speaking (see here), the title leaves room for interpretation that the event occurred in Kosovo. (here)
The information portal “Gazeta-shqip.com” has published an article titled “Serious accident! Pregnant woman loses her life, ends up under the bus (VIDEO)”. After verifying the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title is a generalization that does not clarify the location of the event. The news is clarified only in the content, which states “A terrible accident has occurred in Istanbul, where a pregnant woman has lost her life…” Knowing that the address of the information portal in the “PERSONAL DATA” section appears to be in Tirana (see here), this means that the lack of specification of the place where the news occurred leaves room for misinformation that it is about an event that occurred in Albania. (here)
The information portal “Fron Online” has published an article titled “Bus collides with truck, two dead and 18 injured”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the title does not disclose the location of the incident. The location of the incident is only disclosed in the content of the article, which states that “a serious accident occurred in the early hours of Friday on the outskirts of Rome, where a bus collided with a truck.” Considering the fact that the information portal was created by a journalist from Kosovo (see about us), in order to inform the majority of readers who are Albanian-speaking (here), the title leaves room for interpretation that the incident occurred in Kosovo. (here)
Unverified content
The information portal “Paparaci.com” has published an article titled “Disappointing footballers from the diaspora, Ademi turns his eyes to the locals: 'They are the future'”. The photograph attached to this article shows the president of the Kosovo Football Federation, Agim Ademi, together with five footballers who are part of the Kosovo national team. The content also states that the footballers seen in the photograph are “all names formed in Kosovo”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that one of the footballers seen in the image, Altin Zeqiri, was born in Finland and that he has never been part of any football club in our country in his career. (here)
The information portal "indeksonline.net" has published a photo of the Kosovo national football team player, Vedat Muriqi, on their Instagram page with the caption "Vedat Muriqi shows the flag of Kosovo to the Romanians". The photo shows Vedat Muriqi wearing the Kosovo national football team jersey, pointing to the emblem on the jersey with his left hand. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was found that the photo is not from the Romania-Kosovo match. (here)
Several Albanian-language news portals have published an article attached to a video, claiming that the footage shows the moment a newborn baby is pulled alive from the rubble after the earthquake in Morocco. This video with the same claim was also shared by several English-language accounts on the social media platforms Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), which was verified by Reuters fact-checkers. After this verification conducted by Reuters, it was confirmed that this event did not take place after the September 8 earthquake that struck Morocco, but the same shows a baby rescued from a field in the village of Moosa Nagar in the Kanpur Dehat district, Uttar Pradesh, India. (here)
The Facebook page “Futbolli Kosovar” has published a post claiming that Turkish coach Fatih Terim is in talks with the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) about the possibility of taking over the position of Kosovo coach. Hibrid.info, after research conducted through online tools and social media, has not been able to find this news published in any Turkish or Albanian language media. The aforementioned page does not base the claim on any source from which such information could have emerged. (here)