Last week was characterized by the dominance of clickbait content in the misinformation ecosystem.
The clickbait content was about deaths, robberies, beach closures, and earthquakes, but the title did not specify the location of the event, which left room for misinformation among readers, thinking that the events took place in our country or the Albanian-speaking area.
The disinformation related to a video on TikTok with the caption "Serbian police mistreat Albanians," with claims in Serbian-language media that Kurti's regime is continuing with the agenda of ethnic cleansing of Kosovo by Serbs.
Fake content on TikTok claiming a war is coming soon in Kosovo, where Kurti has ordered 10 mini-tanks manufactured by Turkey.
The conspiracy theory that claims Twitter's logo will change to an X was predicted by an earlier episode of "The Simpsons."
Conspiracy theory/disinformation claiming that the chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the UK Parliament, Alicia Kearns, is taking orders from the British secret service MI6 to protect the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.
Deceptive content on Facebook offering personal loans.
Error in reporting the amount of wheat missing from MINT's reserves based on audio recordings published by "nacionale.com".
Clickbait
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article titled “Famous journalist dies”. Hibrid.info, after verifying the facts presented in the content, has confirmed that the title does not clarify which country the journalist is from, therefore, as such, it is considered a generalizing title. The news is clarified only in the content, more precisely in the headline of the news, when it is stated that, “Branimir Dopuđa, journalist and editor of the Croatian Radio Television, has died, HRT announced”. Since this information portal is registered in Kosovo and most of its readers are Albanian speakers, the title in question may misinform readers that the news is about a journalist in our country. (here)
The information portal “gazeta-shqip.com” has published an article titled “The well-known beach that put the lives of vacationers at risk is closed, here’s what was found at the luxury resort”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the title of this article is a generalization that does not clarify which country’s beach it is in question in. After clicking on the article link, the news is clarified, which reads “Sofular Beach in the Black Sea resort of Sile near Istanbul was closed after 28 unexploded mines were found, authorities said”. Based on the “PERSONAL DATA” section on the website of this information portal, where its address appears to be in Tirana, this generalization leaves room for misinformation among readers that the incident occurred on a beach in Albania. (here)
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article titled “She loses her young life and her boyfriend is injured”. Hibrid.info, after verifying the facts presented in the content, has confirmed that the title does not disclose where the event took place, therefore, as such, it is considered a general title. The news is clarified only in the content where it is written that, “A serious event has occurred in Scotland, a 27-year-old woman has lost her life and her boyfriend has been injured.” Since this information portal is registered in Kosovo and most of its readers are Albanian speakers, the title in question may misinform readers that the news is about an event that occurred in our country. (here)
The information portal “Kosova Sot” has published an article titled “The famous jewelry store in the capital is robbed”. The content of the article of this portal indicates which capital is in question. Hibrid.info has verified the article, confirming that the lack of specification of the capital in the title makes it general. The online medium “kosova-sot.info”, which is a portal operating in Kosovo based on the followers of the Facebook page, has the largest number of readers from Kosovo. Therefore, the failure to specify the capital where the event took place by this portal could very easily result in misinforming readers, making them think that the event took place in our country. (here)
Several Albanian-language media outlets have published an article titled “Strong tremors of a magnitude 4.2 earthquake, here was the epicenter”. Hibrid.info has verified the article and found that the title does not clarify where the news story took place. The location of the event is indicated in the content of the article, which makes the title general. Failure to clarify the location of the event in the title by the media outlets in question, which are written in Albanian and have a registered address in Tirana, could very easily lead to misinforming readers that the event took place in Albania. (here)
disinformation
A TikTok account named “ilmih67” has published a video with the caption “Serbian police abuse Albanians”. The video shows a person dressed in police clothing physically assaulting another person in civilian clothes. Hibrid.info has verified and confirmed that the video shows a police officer in Serbia physically assaulting a young man from the Roma community, which contradicts the claim made by the author of the TikTok video. (here)
The Serbian language media outlet “Happytv.rs” (close to the government in Serbia – see here, here and here) has published an article with a statement by the Serbian Minister of Defense, Miloš Vučević, who claims that, as stated, Kurti’s regime continues with the agenda for the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo by Serbs. Vučević made this claim by interpreting the lack of products originating from Serbia (including medicines) in northern Kosovo (see here). He also tries to link the claim made with the case of the lack of medicines during the war period (1992) in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, after verification of the facts by hibrid.info, it turns out that the claim that the lack of medicines in the northern part of Kosovo is part of, as stated, Kurti’s agenda for the ethnic cleansing of Serbs, while the comparison with the case of Banja Luka, has no arguable facts. (here)
Fake news
The Facebook page named “The Reis” on July 28 posted a video showing the first unmanned mini-tank produced by Turkey. In this post, the aforementioned page claimed that Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has ordered 10 such devices. However, after verifying the facts based on research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has not found such an announcement published in any credible media. Also, the relevant institution, such as the Ministry of Defense in Kosovo, has not made any announcement about the request to be equipped with this type of tank. (here)
A Facebook account has posted a video purporting to show Niger's finance minister crying after coup leaders gave him an ultimatum to account for stolen funds or face death. However, a fact-check by AFP has confirmed that the claim is false and that the video is old (2021) and shows former justice minister Marou Amadou. (here)
The TikTok account named “kiyameti2024” has published a video with a caption claiming a war will soon occur in Kosovo. The account in question does not base its claim on any basis or fact. However, hibrid.info has also researched other sources to find evidence that confirms the claim presented by the account in question, but no such evidence has been found. (here)
Conspiracy theory
An article has been published by several Albanian-language media outlets, claiming that the change of Twitter's logo to X was predicted by an earlier episode of "The Simpsons." The claim is based on the similarity of the new Twitter logo to a logo for an app on a phone featured in one of the episodes of the series. However, after verification, it was confirmed that the logo actually bears a resemblance to the old logo of the "Safari" app. (here)
Conspiracy theory/disinformation
Allegations have been published that the chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the British Parliament, Alicia Kearns, takes orders from the British secret service MI6. Hibrid.info has found this claim published in the Serbian media outlet “Happy TV”, which is suspected of being close to the ruling political parties in Serbia. The article claims that on the orders of the British secret service MI6, Kearns is protecting the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, with her life. A similar claim has also been made by the English-language website “The Grayzone”. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this website publishes misleading reports and articles categorized as conspiracy theories. In a short biography of MP Kearns published in the British media outlet “Politics.co.uk”, there is no mention that she has or has had any closeness to the British service MI6, as alleged in the leaked articles. (here)
Lies
The Facebook page named “Personal Loan” published a post on July 29th claiming to offer loan application opportunities on July 29th. However, hibrid.info found that this post was a false claim from this page. After verifying the facts, Hibrid.info pointed out that a Facebook page used the post of a microfinance institution in Kosovo, whose logo was removed, presenting the post with loan opportunities as an offer from this page. (here)
error
The television channel "Klan Kosova" has published on its YouTube channel, a chronicle entitled "The affair of reserves - MINT "disappears" 9 thousand tons of wheat". The television chronicle in question is about the audio recording published by the medium "Nacionale", where officials from the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade (MINT) are heard speaking. Hibrid.info has verified and confirmed that the number of wheat quantities, which is referred to in the chronicle prepared by Klan Kosova, has been presented incorrectly. After verifying the facts, it has been confirmed that unlike what is presented in the title of the chronicle, which states that 9 thousand tons of wheat are missing, in the published audio recording it is heard that it is about the quantity of 9 tons. (here)