Last week was characterized by the dominance of disinformation in the misinformation ecosystem in Albanian and Serbian language content.
The disinformation in Albanian on social media was related to the claim of an accident in Fushë Kosovë and a published photograph claiming to show a view of a place in Kosovo. While in Serbian, the media was misinformed with the claim that the exodus of the population has begun after visa liberalization and that 10 thousand employees of the gastronomy sector have left Kosovo.
Clickbait articles were published on information portals about deaths from alcohol consumption, child murders, and scenes that did not occur in the Albanian-speaking world, and the location of the event was also not disclosed in the headlines.
Clickbait / Disinformation has been assessed as an article about gunshots in a mosque and people injured, which turned out to have occurred in Istanbul and was an attack with a knife and not a gun.
Unverified content has been published on social media regarding photographs of the Pope in intimate moments with a girl, as well as content claiming that a radar has been installed in Pristina.
The content reporting on the murder of an Albanian in Greece, where they mistakenly posted a photo of another person, claiming that he was the person who was killed, was assessed as unverified content and disinformation.
A misleading content has been published on TikTok showing Shefqet Krasniqi wearing a Serbian military uniform.
A fake news story has been published on social media claiming that the footage depicts the training of armed forces in our country, on the border with Serbia.
Conspiracy theories were assessed by video footage showing footage from a tunnel found in a synagogue in New York, in which there were also arrested people, who were allegedly accused of child kidnapping and satanic rituals. Also, an article was published in the Serbian media with a conspiracy claim that the robbery of Serb houses in the village of Lubozdë, Istog, was carried out as part of a "campaign of intimidation and persecution of the Serbian people organized and inspired by Pristina."
Clickbait
Several information portals with content in Albanian have published the article titled "They consumed contaminated alcohol, four people died and 40 were hospitalized." The article is clarified only in the content, more precisely in the headline of the article, which states that “Four people have died and 40 are in hospital after drinking contaminated alcohol in southern Tunisia, an official said”. Hibrid.info has verified the facts and has confirmed that the title of this article is generalising, as it does not clarify which country the content refers to, implying that the event took place in an Albanian-speaking country. (here)
Several news portals with content in Albanian have shared on their Facebook social media pages an article titled “Tragic! “Model” mother commits macabre act against her 6-month-old baby”. 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. The news is clarified only in the content, more precisely in the heading of the article, which states “A macabre event occurred in neighboring Greece, where an elderly couple presented themselves to the hospital with their 6-month-old grandson dead, after being raped to death by his mother”. (here)
The information portal “Kosova Sot” has published an image on its Facebook page, with a view of passengers at the Pristina “Adem Jashari” Airport. This photo contains the caption “Effect of visa liberalization, Pristina Airport is overflowing with passengers”. After verification by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title and content of the article from the link attached to the publication do not reflect the claim of the caption in the image. (here)
Clickbait / Manipulation of facts
The Albanian-language information portal “sot.com.al” has published an article titled “Shots fired at a mosque, one injured reported”. However, the content of the article on the relevant portal indicates that it is an event that occurred in Istanbul. The title is also incorrect, as it implies that the injury was caused by a firearm, and that a gun is also shown in the illustrative photograph. While the article explains that one of the visitors to a mosque in the Fatih neighborhood of Istanbul attacked an imam and a priest with a knife. (here)
Unverified content
Facebook pages named “Kosova News” and “TROPOJA TEK JU” have published an image showing Pope Francis. The photo published on January 6 and 7 by the respective pages shows Pope Francis in intimate moments with a woman. After research by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this image was generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). (here)
A Facebook social media page has published a video claiming that a radar has been installed in Pristina. Hibrid.info has verified that the claim is false, as this radar has been installed since the 80s. (here)
Unverified content / Misinformation
Several Albanian-language news portals that reported on the murder of an Albanian in Greece have mistakenly posted a photo of another person, claiming that he is the person who was killed. However, after research and fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was found that this claim is not true and that the person killed is in fact someone else. (here)
Manipulation of facts / Disinformation
The Albanian-language online medium “euronews.al” has published an article with the claim in the title that Serbian lawyer Cedomir Stojkovic has stated: “I don’t care. I have the right to honor the family of Adem Jashari”. After verifying the content of the published article, it was found that the statement does not definitively imply that Stojkovic has declared that he has the right to honor the family of Adem Jashari. (here)
disinformation
A TikTok account called “mrgame.ks” published a video yesterday with an image that appears to show a car in an accident near a train. The photo is captioned with the claim that a tragic accident between a car and a train occurred in Fushë Kosovë, resulting in the deaths of two people. After verification by hibrid.info, the alleged event was confirmed, but only with material consequences. (here)
A Facebook social media page has posted a photo of a snow-covered road claiming to be a view of a village in Suhareka. The caption of the posted image reads “Switzerland?! Not Duhla in Suhareka”. After research and fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been proven that this claim is not accurate. (here)
Serbian language media outlet “Alo.rs” falsely claims that Kosovo will experience an exodus in 2024, where, according to them, the mass departure of the population began on January 1. The Serbian media outlet bases this claim on the opinion of analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu and the figures of trips at Pristina airport. Based on the data provided by the airport spokesperson, it appears that the number of trips includes both arrivals and departures and the diaspora. Based on the statistics, it appears that there was also a large number of flights during December (2023). Even during January of last year (2023), the number of flights was similar to December. (here)
A Serbian-language media outlet has inaccurately claimed that the representative of the Association of Gastronomes of Kosovo, Arian Vranica, said that as of January 1, 10 workers in the gastronomy sector have left Kosovo. After verification of the facts conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that Vranica did not include only workers in the gastronomy sector in this figure, but in general workers from other sectors who are in employment relationships. (here)
Lies
A TikTok account has published an image showing the hoxha, Shefqet Krasniqi, wearing a Serbian military uniform. After verification by hibrid.info, the original image was found, in which instead of the hoxha, the convicted war crimes suspect, Ratko Mladic, appears. This proves that the photo of Shefqet Krasniqi is edited. (here)
Fake news
A TikTok account named “mtrks25” has published a video showing footage of several soldiers. The caption of this video claims that footage of armed forces training in our country, on the border with Serbia, is shown. After verification by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that, contrary to the claim, Ukrainian soldiers are seen in the footage. (here)
Conspiracy theory
Serbian language media outlet “Alo.rs” has published an article about the looting of Serb homes in the village of Lubozdë in Istog during the Orthodox Christmas holiday. This media outlet claims that this was done as part of a “campaign of intimidation and persecution of the Serbian people organized and inspired by Pristina”. The media outlet’s claim is based on a statement from the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia. After fact-checking 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 done. (here)
A Facebook page has posted videos showing footage of a tunnel found in a synagogue, which also contained people arrested, allegedly accused of child abduction and satanic rituals. The same claims were addressed by the Spanish-language fact-checker “maldita.es”, who confirmed that the arrested people are accused of obstructing government administration, reckless endangerment and other criminal offenses. (here)