Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
During the period 17–23 November 2025, a significant increase in misinformation content was observed in the media and social networks in Kosovo, where fake news in particular seemed to be receiving the majority of public attention.
In the fake news category, content was spread mainly on Facebook and TikTok, touching on political and sports topics. The first case came from the “ABC News Kosova” Facebook page, which claimed that the State Prosecutor’s Office had opened urgent investigations into electoral manipulations in Fushë Kosovë and Obiliq. The claim was published without any official announcement and turned out to be unfounded. Also, the “Universal” page published a fake quote from Granit Xhaka about the Kosovo–Switzerland match, attributing to the player a statement that does not exist in any credible source. Another fake post on TikTok, from the “kosova.shqiptarve” account, attributed to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić a false statement about the overthrow of the Kurti Government, which is not found anywhere in the media. Meanwhile, the “AlbLajm.ch” page re-circulated an old and denied claim regarding an alleged statement by Albin Kurti in 1998, which was never published in the FAZ newspaper. On TikTok, the account “kosova.e.tradheuar” published an image generated by artificial intelligence to depict an alleged meeting between Albin Kurti and a Serbian List MP, creating a false impression of political collaboration.
Disinformation/Unverified Content was assessed as a publication by the Serbian public broadcaster RTS, along with other Serbian-language media outlets, which published a series of unclear reports on alleged gunfire from Kosovo territory towards the Serbian army on November 16. These media outlets claimed that a group of masked Albanians had shot and killed a dog, while the articles themselves did not provide any concrete evidence, relying only on the wording “unofficially learned”. The Kosovo Police denied these claims, describing them as unfounded and unconfirmed by any official authority.
The clickbait content appeared primarily on Facebook, where an image accompanied by the caption “Moscow issues stern warning to Kosovo, ‘They will not survive’” quickly spread. The image gave the impression that Russia was sending threats to Kosovo, however, the statement referred to the Russian ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Bochan Kharchenko, who was actually addressing politicians in Serbia — not Kosovo — warning that they “will not survive politically” if they recognize Kosovo’s independence or impose sanctions on Russia.
In the category of conspiracy theories, Serbian media outlets such as “Alo” published statements by the director of the Serbian Post, Zoran Đanđelković, who claimed that Albin Kurti is allegedly openly preparing a conflict with Serbia, with the idea of KFOR being involved later. Đanđelković tried to portray Kurti as someone who wants to become a “war commander”, but without presenting any evidence or facts to support his claims. Furthermore, his claim about “frequent incidents on the border” is unfounded, as the security institutions in Kosovo and Serbia have not reported on such incidents recently. The exception remains the case of November 1, when a Kosovar citizen was injured and kidnapped by Serbian gendarmerie inside the territory of Kosovo — a case that goes in the opposite direction to the narrative set up.
Another case of disinformation was published on TikTok on November 19, where it was claimed that the chairman of the Serbian List had declared support only for the PDK and LDK, and not for the Konjufca Government. After verification, it was found that the person in the video was not the chairman of the Serbian List, but MP Igor Simić, who had made a completely different statement. Simić explained that the Serbian List will not support the candidate of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Glauk Konjufca, just as he had not supported Albin Kurti, but he had not articulated any support for the PDK or LDK at all.
Fake news
The Facebook page “ABC News Kosova” claimed on November 12 that, based on sources close to the State Prosecution, urgent investigations have been opened for abuses in the voting process in the municipalities of Fushë Kosovë and Obiliq, including possible vote manipulation and the involvement of influential people in the local administration. The same post emphasized that the Prosecution had not yet issued an official announcement. After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that this claim has not been confirmed by any credible media. The State Prosecution has not published any official announcement on its Facebook page regarding the “opening of investigations”. (here)
The “Universal” Facebook page published an image of Granit Xhaka, claiming that he said “I only understood the whistles from the Serbian fans, but not from the Dardanians.". After verification by hibrid.info, it is confirmed that such a statement does not exist. Online searches with the keywords of the alleged quote do not yield any credible source that supports it. After the Kosovo – Switzerland match, Xhaka spoke to the Swiss media SRF, where he said that the whistles surprised and touched him, but that they are part of the game and that everything is fine. (here)
“Vučić with the Serbian List: Our goal is to overthrow the Kurti Government with the opposition.” it reads over an image showing the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, representatives of the Serbian political entity in Kosovo, the Serbian List, and the leaders of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Democratic League of Kosovo, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo. The image was published on TikTok by the account “kosova.shqiptarve” on November 19. After searching on “Google” with the words “Vučić: Our goal with the opposition is to overthrow the Kurti Government,” hibrid.info did not find this alleged statement in any credible source of information. (here)
A Facebook post by “AlbLajm.ch” has revived the false claim that Albin Kurti said in 1998 that “whoever supports the US and Rugova is against Kosovo”. The page claims that this statement was published in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. This article does not exist in the FAZ archive and this claim was denied as early as 2021 by the newspaper’s correspondent, Michael Martens, who said that the article is false and used for campaigning. The claim has returned again on the eve of the early elections on December 28. (here)
The TikTok account “kosova.e.tradheuar” has published a claim that Albin Kurti had a meeting with Serbian List MP Slavko Simić after the November 19 session. The claim was based on a photo showing two people sitting in a cafe, accompanied by captions suggesting cooperation between Vetëvendosje and Serbian List. Hibrid.info, through image verification tools, has determined that the photo was generated by artificial intelligence. In addition, Google searches did not find any reliable source confirming such a meeting. (here)
Misinformation/Unverified Content
The Serbian public broadcaster, RTS, as well as other Serbian-language media outlets, as mentioned above, claimed on Sunday (November 16) that there had been gunfire from Kosovo territory towards members of the Serbian Army on the Serbian side. According to these claims, “a group of masked Albanians” They fired a gun and shot a dog. However, although the headlines of these articles stated that there had been shooting, none of the articles actually stated this, but all of them referred to the sentence "learned unofficially". Kosovo Police, meanwhile, on Monday denied that there had been any shooting on the border line on Sunday, November 16, considering the claims of the Serbian media as ""disinformation, unfounded and do not correspond to any official information or events verified by the authorities in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo"system. (here)
Clickbait
The photo with the caption “Moscow issues strong warning to Kosovo, 'They will not survive'” creates the impression that Russia has sent a message to Kosovo. However, it is a statement by the Russian ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Bochan Kharchenko, who addressed politicians in Serbia that if they impose sanctions on Russia or recognize Kosovo, they will not be able to survive in the state – so it is not a message to Kosovo. Even readers have misunderstood it as a direct message to our country. (here)
Conspiracy theory
The media outlet “Alo” in Serbia has published a statement by the director of the Serbian Post Office, Zoran Đanđelković, who has conspired that Kurti wants a conflict with Serbia, a conflict in which, according to him, KFOR would later be involved. Đanđelković says that Kurti is doing all this because he “wants to become a kind of war commander”. Đanđelković has not based these claims on any facts, although he is quoted as saying that there are frequent conflicts on the Kosovo-Serbia border. However, this statement is not based on facts either, since neither the security institutions of Kosovo, nor those of Serbia, have reported any recent cross-border incidents. The most recent case is that of November 1 of this year, when according to the Kosovo Police, but also other state institutions, a Kosovar citizen was injured by Serbian gendarmerie within the territory of Kosovo and then the same was kidnapped and sent to the territory of Serbia. (here)
disinformation
Through a video published on November 19 on TikTok, it was claimed that the chairman of the Serbian List had stated that his party would vote only for the PDK and LDK, but not for the Konjufca Government. After verification by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this claim is untrue, and the person in the video is not the chairman of the Serbian List, but MP Igor Simić. In his speech, Simić said that the Serbian List will not support the second mandate of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Glauk Konjufca, just as it did not support the first candidate, Albin Kurti. During his speech, the MP from the Serbian List did not mention PDK or LDK at all. (here)