Last week was characterized by the dominance of clickbait articles in the misinformation ecosystem.
Clickbait articles have been published on news portals, social media and dubious portals. In recent days, dubious portals, as well as Albanian-language news portals, have published articles with general headlines about tragic cases that have occurred in other countries, without specifying the place where they occurred. An old news story about the death of two Kosovars in Kalimash has been published on Facebook, claiming to be current.
It has been claimed in news portals that Turkish President Erdogan will be involved in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, but the same turned out to be an opinion of a Turkish analyst. Also, an article was published claiming that Dua Lipa was appointed Ambassador, without disclosing that the singer has been selected as an ambassador by a French makeup brand "YSL Beauty".
The manipulation of facts has been published by information portals in connection with claims that an expert ordered Prime Minister Kurti to invade Serbia; as well as through footage from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) meeting to establish the Women's Forum Branch in Switzerland, with the claim that there were no women participants.
It was incorrectly reported that the Kosovo national team won twice against Switzerland in the qualifiers for the Basketball World Cup.
Clickbait/disinformation has been deemed old news published on social media related to the increase in pensions in Albania.
Deceptive content with edited photos claiming that columnist Halil Matoshi went to Serbia to receive payment, following the decision of the Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK) to ban the circulation of the Serbian dinar currency in Kosovo.
Unverified Content/Satire The publication on several Albanian-language portals of the content of a satirical account of the president, Volodymyr Zelensky, entitled "Summit in Tirana, Zelensky: We will also discuss the issue of Kosovo".
A video published on an information portal claiming that Serbian helicopters flew near the border with Kosovo has been rated as unverified content/disinformation.
Regarding the control of declarations, the Minister of Health, Arben Vitia, stated that doctors in Kosovo have one of the highest salaries in the Western Balkans region, and that after research it has been proven that only Serbia has lower salaries for doctors, compared to Kosovo.
Manipulation of facts
The portal “Lecanton27.ch”, which calls itself “the first Swiss newspaper in Albanian”, published a photo on its official Facebook page on February 24, claiming that it is a picture from the meeting of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) for the establishment of the Women’s Forum Branch in Switzerland. The photo shows only male participants and the caption reads “This also happened: LDK today established the Women’s Forum branch in Switzerland without a single woman?!…Look at the all-male photo..” After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this claim is false since the photo has been cropped, while the original photo also shows female participants, and other images published by the LDK also show women. (here)
The information portal "ntv.al" has published an article titled "Serbia to be invaded/ The expert has a message for Kurti". While the content of this article does not contain such a statement by the Austrian economist, Gunther Fehlinger. After research through online search engines, conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the claim made in the title of this portal is not true and that Fehlinger had not stated anything like that. (here)
error
The portal “lecanton27.ch”, which calls itself the first Albanian newspaper in Switzerland, has published (February 23) an article entitled “Start of World Cup qualifiers: Kosovars win twice against Switzerland”. From the photo attached to the publication as well as its content, it becomes clear that the article is about the matches of the Kosovo national team, within the framework of the pre-qualifications for the World Cup in basketball. The fact that the title has a punctuation mark, a colon (:), which in this case is used to announce an explanation (here), implies that the title shows the information that Kosovo has defeated Switzerland twice, at the beginning of the pre-qualifications for the World Cup, in basketball. But after verification of the facts by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the Kosovo national team in basketball. (here)
Clickbait/Disinformation
The “Live News” page on Facebook has published an article titled “Rama Government does not stop! Another pension increase for the elderly, starting from the date…”. After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the news about the increase in pensions in Albania is old. So, the aforementioned page has published an old news item with the claim to present it as current. (here)
Conspiracy theory
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has announced that on February 25, in a village in Klina, an auxiliary building on the property of Ljubisa Doncic was burned. This office claims that such attacks on private properties are being carried out by, as this office calls "Albanian extremists", to expel Serbs from their homes. This office does not substantiate these claims with any facts, since the purpose and perpetrators of the act are unknown. (here)
Clickbait
The Albanian-language information portal “kosovapost.net” has published an article titled “Dua Lipa Appointed Ambassador”, attaching an illustrative photo of Dua Lipa with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title of the article is a generalization, which does not clarify that it is about the appointment of the singer of Kosovar origin, Dua Lipa, as an ambassador by a French makeup brand “YSL Beauty”, and by placing an image that has nothing to do with the news as an illustrative photo. The news is clarified only in the content, which states “Since 2019, Dua Lipa has headed the “Libre” exclusivity as the global brand ambassador of “YSL Beauty”; today, she continues to perfectly embody modern femininity as the newly appointed Global Makeup Ambassador for “YSL Beauty”. (here)
The Facebook page “Live News” has published an article titled “These are the two Kosovars who died in the tragic accident in Kalimash”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the news about the death of two Kosovars in the accident in Kalimash is old. So, the aforementioned page has published a news item from October last year with the claim to present it as current. (here)
Doubtful portals and information portals in Albanian have, in recent days, published articles with generalizing titles about tragic cases that have occurred in other countries. During daily monitoring, hibrid.info has managed to collect several articles with such a structure from the dubious portals “lajmifundit.al” and “belmouth.com” and from the information portal “ntv.al”. So, these portals have placed generalizing titles in these articles without making the place of the event clear, and considering that their contents are in Albanian, these titles mislead the audience that the event may have occurred in any of the Albanian-speaking countries. (here)
The information portal "ntv.al" has published an article titled, "Erdogan puts his hands into dialogue/ Great support comes from Ankara". After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was found that in the content of this article, the information presented in the title is based on statements by a Turkish professor, which is not clarified in the title. The failure to specify the information in the title as a statement or quote is understood and read as factual information. (here)
Lies
The TikTok account named “lagraqsaqi” has published a video material, in which the image of the columnist, Halil Matoshi, is presented. In the photo, Matoshi appears in a place, a sign indicating the settlement “Kraljevë”, with the inscription placed by the author of the publication claiming that the columnist has gone to Serbia to receive payment, following the decision of the Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK), to ban the circulation of the Dinar currency in Kosovo. Based on the comments posted in the comments section, hibrid.info estimates that the audience from this publication can be informed that Matoshi is paid by the Serbian state. However, after verification of the facts by hibrid.info, a real photo of the columnist Halil Matoshi was found, where in fact the sign indicating the settlement “Tugjec” (here) is shown, which proves the interference in the authentic image. (here)
Unverified Content/Satire
Several Albanian-language portals have published an article titled “Tirana Summit, Zelensky: We will also discuss the Kosovo issue”. These media outlets have referred to a post on the social network X (former Twitter). After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the account referred to by the media was mainly used to distribute satirical content, claiming to be the account of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky “Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (parody)”. So, this statement was not made by any official account of the Ukrainian president. (here)
Unverified Content/Disinformation
The information portal “Indeksonline.net” has published an article titled “Serbian helicopters flew near the border with Kosovo (video)”. Attached to this article is a video material showing footage of two helicopters flying. After checking and verifying the facts carried out by hibrid.info, using the “Google Maps” platform, it has been confirmed that the footage was shot at a distance of close to 60 kilometers as the crow flies from the border with Kosovo. (here)
Control of declarations and promises
Minister of Health, Arben Vitia, gave an interview, published on February 25, for the News Agency, Ekonomia Online. In this interview, Vitia stated that doctors in Kosovo have one of the highest salaries in the Western Balkans region. After verifying the facts by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that compared to the Western Balkan countries, only Serbia has lower salaries for doctors, compared to Kosovo, which, according to the assessment, makes Minister Vitia's statement incorrect. (here)