Disinformation has dominated the misinformation ecosystem over the past week.
The content that was assessed as disinformation was published on social media and real media. On social media, disinformation was published with claims that the Serbian army has been deployed near the border with Kosovo and that the American ambassador, Hovenier, had said about this that “NATO is ready”, and about the Israel-Hamas conflict where an image from Syria (2018) is claimed to be current from the conflict. While on real media, disinformation was published with the claim that “Serbian media: After the ban on the dinar, the Serbian army should enter Kosovo”, and old news about deaths from Covid-19 in North Macedonia.
Clickbait articles with generalizing and misleading headlines have been published in real media with claims that “Vučić-controlled tabloid spreads panic: Near the border with Serbia, NATO is sheltering around 5000 Alliance soldiers”; that “Tragic! Bus full of passengers overturns, reports of casualties and injuries”.
Fake news has been published on social media and dubious portals with claims that Switzerland is looking for 1 million workers and that the Kosovo Government has decided to allocate 100 euros in February to all citizens living in cities, and not to those living in villages.
Conspiracy theories have been published in Serbian-language media based on statements from the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, with claims that the looting of Serb homes in Kosovo is being carried out by Albanian extremists inspired by official Pristina with the aim of expelling them.
Unverified content has been published on social media with claims that Kosovo will be equipped with F-16 fighter jets by Turkey, and a montage of a train with the inscription "Kosovo is Albania".
Deceptive content was published through Facebook messages with the false claim of the possibility of improving the user's business account.
disinformation:
A TikTok account has published a video claiming that the Serbian army has been deployed near the border with Kosovo and, through a photo of the American ambassador, Hovenier claims that he said: "NATO is ready". However, after fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that neither of these two claims is true and that the photo used in the video is old. (here)
The information portal "Kosovapost.net" has published an article titled "6 dead in 24 hours in North Macedonia, movement restrictions warned". After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the news about the number of people who died within 24 hours in North Macedonia is old, published in 2020, and does not correspond to the current situation in January 2024 when it was published. (here)
The information portal “Frontonline.net” has published an article titled “Serbian Media: After the ban on the dinar, the Serbian army should enter Kosovo”. After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the title of this article does not correspond to the content due to the fact that the article nowhere mentions the army, nor the possibility of its entry into the territory of Kosovo. (here)
Several Facebook social media pages have published an image showing two children lying down while one of them holds an oxygen mask for the other child. The caption on the photo reads: “Palestinian sister died while giving oxygen to her brother.” After research and fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this claim is false and that the image was taken in 2018, in the Syrian capital Damascus. Also, it was not reported at the time that the child had died. (here)
Clickbait
The online media outlet “Gazeta Express” has published an article titled “Vučić-controlled tabloid spreads panic: Near the border with Serbia, NATO is sheltering around 5000 Alliance soldiers”. The news is clarified only in the content, more precisely in the headline of the article, indicating that it is about the border in Bulgaria. Hibrid.info has verified the facts and has confirmed that the title of this article is generalizing, as it does not clarify which country is being discussed in the content, implying that the news is about NATO soldiers on the Kosovo-Serbia border. (here)
An information portal with content in the Albanian language has published an article titled “Tragic! Bus full of passengers overturns, victims and injured reported”. After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the title of this article is generalizing, as it does not clarify in which country the event occurred, implying that the event occurred in an Albanian-speaking country, as is the language of the portal that published it. (here)
Fake news
A TikTok account has published a video claiming that Switzerland is looking for 1 million workers. After verification by hibrid.info, data was found indicating about 250 thousand job vacancies, a figure that does not match the claim above. (here)
The dubious Albanian-language portal “makamuki.com” published an article on January 13 claiming that the Kosovo Government had decided to allocate 100 euros in February to all citizens living in cities, and not to those living in villages. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the article was fabricated, and that such a decision was not made by the Kosovo Government. (here)
Conspiracy theory
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has published a statement regarding the robbery of the family home of Miodrag Kostić in the village of Plemetin in Obiliq. Regarding this case, this institution has stated that the action was carried out as a "practice of intimidation of Serbs since Kurti came to power, with the aim of threatening the survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo". After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that it is still not known who the perpetrators of this act are and for what purpose. (here)
Several Serbian-language media outlets have published an article claiming that the looting of the homes of Serbian families in the village of Lubozdë in Istog was carried out by Albanian extremists with the aim of expelling Serbs from Kosovo. The article is based on a statement from the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, which interprets the looting of the homes of Marinko Blagojević and Tomislav Radivojević in Lubozdë as “a clear message from Albanian extremists that they do not want to build peace, coexistence and that they are doing everything to scare and expel Serbs”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that it is still unknown who the perpetrators of this act are and for what purpose it was committed. (here)
Unverified content
A TikTok account named “7s.02” has published (January 14) a video showing footage of a military aircraft. The video caption claims that Kosovo will be equipped with F-16 fighter jets by Turkey. Hibrid.info has investigated the claim, but has not found any supporting evidence. (here)
Through an image showing a train with the inscription "Kosovo is Albania", a Facebook page has falsely claimed that it is an image from a train in Switzerland as a sign of support for Albanians and Albanian footballers there. However, hibrid.info, after verifying the facts, has found that the claim is false and that the image presented is fabricated and has been circulating on the network since 2017. (here)
Lies
Anonymous fraudulent messages in Albanian have been sent to several Facebook users, containing a fake link with the intention of getting them to click on it. The message claimed that this link supposedly contained the opportunity to improve the user's business account. After investigation, it was confirmed that such links serve to obtain sensitive information, which fraudsters can then use for fraudulent purposes. (here)