Last week was characterized by the dominance of disinformation in the misinformation ecosystem.
Disinformation was published on social media and suspicious portals. An image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, generated with artificial intelligence, was published on social media, where he is seen in a hospital; an old photograph was also published with the false claim that the secretary of the PDK, Vlora Çitaku, was visiting the Deçan Monastery; an image was also published showing the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, with the caption on the image, which claims that the latter has stated "It is normal for 50% of citizens who did not vote for us to leave Kosovo"; disinformation was published on suspicious portals that the mayor of Haraçina was injured during the assassination attempt, and that there were also victims.
Unverified content has been published on TikTok and information portals. A photo was published on information portals showing the image of Kosovar footballer Vedat Muriqi, with the false claim that a mural of him had been made on one of the buildings in the city of Mallorca; while an election poll was published on TikTok, the author and source of which were unknown.
A photo posted on Facebook showing a dog holding a baby in its mouth with the false claim that it was taken in Gaza, with the caption "dogs eat the bodies of children they pull out of the rubble," has been deemed unverified content/disinformation.
An information portal has mistakenly published the statement of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, "About 400 Serbian extremists are being trained in the areas around the border with Kosovo", where instead of 400 the figure was put as 4000.
Clickbait articles were published on information portals about pension increases, the death of a young girl, and the renovation of a stadium, and the headlines of these articles did not disclose the location of the event.
Manipulation of facts in reporting on the unsportsmanlike behavior of the head coach of KF "Flamurtar", Liridon Leci.
Fake news has been published on Facebook claiming that former President of the United States of America (USA), John Kennedy, is alive.
disinformation
The Albanian-language Facebook page “The Reis” has published an image showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lying on a bed in a hospital. The page captioned the image “Have an operation…butcher”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the image is not real and was generated with Artificial Intelligence (AI). (here)
An account named “Fleta Press” published (March 30) an image on Facebook, showing the vice-chair of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Vlora Çitaku, at the entrance of an Orthodox religious building. The author of this publication has placed the caption “The Secretary of the PDK, Ms. Vlora Çitaku, was on a visit to the Deçan Monastery, apparently to congratulate her on the land that the Constitution gave to the Monastery, 24 hectares!”. However, after verification of the facts by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the photo depicts the moments of Çitaku’s visit to the municipality of Prizren, in 2013, during the time when she was serving as Minister of European Integration, since on that occasion she also met with representatives of the Orthodox Church in Prizren. (here)
The dubious portal “realiteti.net” has published an article titled “BREAKING NEWS: The mayor of Haraçina is injured, are there any victims?” The information presented in the title is also confirmed in the content of this article. However, after verifying the facts by hibrid.info, it was found that the mayor of Haraçina, Ridvan Ibrahimi, was not injured during the assassination attempt and it has not been confirmed that there are any dead people. (here)
An account named “Komente Politike” on Facebook published (April 4) an image in the public group “Diaspora me PDK”. The image shows the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, with the caption on the image, which claims that the latter has stated “It is normal for 50% of citizens who did not vote for us to leave Kosovo”. However, after research by hibrid.info, the alleged statement has not been found published in any credible media. (here)
Unverified content
On March 30, an image was published that depicts a poll regarding the votes of political entities in Kosovo, in case elections were held. The image was published on TikTok by the account “lagraqsaqi”, in the form of a video material, and by a Facebook account under the name “Albert Sulaj”. After verification by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the author of this poll is missing from the image, which makes it unreliable. Hibrid.info has also found the latest poll published regarding elections in Kosovo by a company authorized for such matters. (here)
Several news portals have published a photo yesterday showing the image of Kosovar footballer Vedat Muriqi, who plays for the Spanish team Mallorca. Through this photo, several portals have claimed that a mural of Muriqi has been made on one of the buildings in the city of Mallorca. After checking the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the photo does not represent a real mural, but has been edited through the image creation program “Adobe Photoshop”. (here)
Unverified content/Disinformation
The Albanian-language Facebook page “The Reis” published (April 2) a photo showing a dog holding a baby in its mouth. With this photo, the aforementioned page claims that it was taken in Gaza and that “dogs eat the bodies of children they pull out of the rubble”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the photo is old and has been circulating on the internet since 2017. In another post published on Facebook by an account, it is stated that the images were taken in Bangladesh. (here)
error
The information portal “ntv.al” has published (April 2) an article titled “4000 are ready for war, are being trained at the border on Vučić’s orders”. Based on the attached image, it is understood that this is a statement from the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla. However, after verifying the content of this article by hibrid.info, it was understood that Minister Sveçla said that “About 400 Serbian extremists are being trained in the areas around the border with Kosovo”, which is also confirmed by the minister’s interview, from which this article is based. Based on some of the comments on the publication of this article, on the “ntv.al” portal’s Facebook page, the incorrect presentation of the number (4000) in the title can be read as a given. (here)
Clickbait
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published (April 3) an article titled “Pension Increase: We Can Buy 15 More Loaves of Bread”. After a fact-check conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title of the article does not clarify that it is about the increase in pensions in North Macedonia. The news is clarified only in the content of the article, which states that “Based on the new methodology for increasing pensions, twice a year, in March and September, over 337 thousand pensioners of North Macedonia, in April received their pensions with an increase of 5.3 percent of the current value, or 10 to 65 euros, depending on the amount of pensions they are entitled to”. (here)
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” published on its Facebook page (April 4) an article titled “Serious: Waterworks workers hit 2-year-old girl with car and threw her body into the canal”. After checking the facts conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the title of the article does not clarify that it is about an event that occurred in Serbia. After clicking on the Facebook post link, it is noticed that the title of the article changes, clarifying the news that the event occurred in Serbia. (here)
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” published on April 4 an article titled “Ministry of Sports allocates 9 million euros for stadium renovation”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the photograph in this article shows the view of the “Fadil Vokrri” stadium in Pristina, while the news item is about the renovation of the city stadium in Gjakova. Also, the title does not clarify which stadium is in question. (here)
Manipulation of facts
The information portal “paparaci.com” has published (April 3) an informative article entitled ““Analyst Coach” Kicks and Punches Opposing Footballer – FFK Comes to His Defense”. After verification of the article by hibrid.info, it was found that the disciplinary committee of the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) has decided to give the minimum penalty provided for in the Disciplinary Regulation for unsportsmanlike behavior to the head coach of KF “Flamurtar”, Liridon Leci. Considering that the substantive purpose of the news item only provides information on the events and not their evaluation, hibrid.info assesses that the presentation of the FFK’s decision on coach Leci, as “coming to his defense”, is a distorted interpretation of the facts. (here)
Fake news
The Facebook account named “Blerta Pupi Mile” has published a post claiming that former President of the United States of America (USA), John Kennedy, is alive. This account claims that Carolyn Bessette – Kennedy, the wife of Kennedy’s son, John Kennedy Junior, has said that the former president is alive. After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that Carolyn Bessette – Kennedy passed away in 1999. Also, in the post made by the aforementioned account, an image of a person is presented, who is claimed to be the deceased American President, John Kennedy. However, hibrid.info has researched and confirmed that the image displayed in the post belongs to Russell LeeRoy Pickett, an American veteran of World War II. (here)