Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
According to monitoring of media and social networks, misinformation and clickbait articles have dominated over the past week.
Over the past week, several pieces of disinformation have been shared on Facebook and TikTok that have attracted attention. One of them claimed that the US Embassy in Kosovo had praised the Kurti Government for the situation in the north, with the alleged statement: “Safe visits and free walking for the first time in 25 years”. This claim, published by several pages and accounts on social networks, has been denied by hibrid.info, as such a statement does not exist. Videos have also been shared claiming that China has broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza and sent humanitarian aid, but these images are from previous events and are not related to any real intervention. The main topics of disinformation this week are related to political developments in Kosovo and conflicts in the Middle East.
During the week, several clickbait headlines were published in online media and social networks. One of them is the article titled “The public gave Albania second place, but political votes put it in eighth place”, published by “albaniannews.net” and shared on May 18 on Facebook. The article refers to Albania’s participation in Eurovision with the song “Zjerm” by “Shkodra Elektronike”, which finished in eighth place with 218 points. The title suggests injustice, although the ranking is the result of a combination of jury and public votes. Another case is the KosovaPress article titled “Two-year-old falls from the 15th floor”, published on May 17. The title is generalized and does not indicate that the event took place in Maryland, USA, which is only revealed after opening the article.
Clickbait/fact manipulation was published on May 20 by “a2news.com” with the title “New Pope Continues Old Tradition: We Do Not Recognize Kosovo”, also shared by other media outlets. The title suggests a new statement by Pope Leo XIV on non-recognition of Kosovo, although the content lacks any new position from the Pope or the Holy See. The article is based on previous positions, while the title is presented in a sensationalist and click-baiting manner.
Clickbait/Disinformation was published on May 20 by “kosovanews.net” with the title “Abdixhiku complains to the Italian ambassador: Country politically blocked – international mediation required”. However, after verification by hibrid.info, the content of the article does not contain any such statement and the claim of the title is not supported by any official source. The title has been assessed as misleading and disinformation, as it does not match the real content of the news.
Unverified content was posted on TikTok on May 18 by the account “lajmet_rrethpolicise”, which featured a photo of Kosovo Police members with the caption claiming that “The competition for police officers opens in June.” After verification by hibrid.info, no official announcement from the Kosovo Police was found to confirm this claim.
Clickbait
An article titled, “The public gave Albania second place, but political votes placed it in eighth place” is published. This content was published by the Albanian language medium, “albaniannews.net”. The publication date is not specified, but the post was published on the Facebook page of this medium (May 18). The article is about Albania’s participation in the European song contest “Eurovision”. Albania was represented by “Shkodra Elektronike” with the song “Zjerm” and finished eighth in this competition, receiving 218 points, from a combination of votes from professional juries of the participating countries and the public. (here)
“Two-year-old falls from 15th floor,” is the title of an article published on May 17. The article was published by the KosovaPress news agency on its official website, as well as on the KosovaPress Facebook page. The title of this article is a generalization, which does not clarify where the event occurred. After clicking on the article link, the content clarifies that the event occurred in Maryland, USA. (here)
Clickbait/Fact manipulation
An article titled “The new Pope continues the old tradition: We do not recognize Kosovo” is published. The article was first published (May 20) by the Albanian language medium “a2news.com”. It was later published by several other Albanian language media. The title is presented in the form that the position “We do not recognize Kosovo” came as a declaration by Pope Leo XIV, appointed to the Catholic Church after the death of Pope Francis. However, the information presented in the article does not contain any new declaration by the Pope or the Holy See related to the recognition or non-recognition of Kosovo. (here)
Clickbait/Disinformation
An article titled “Abdixhiku complains to the Italian ambassador: Country politically blocked – international mediation required” was published. The content was published (May 20) by the medium “kosovanews.net”. Hibrid.info has found that the information claimed in the title does not match what is contained in the content of the news and that the claim is not confirmed by other official announcements. (here)
disinformation
A post was shared on social media platforms Facebook and TikTok (May 20) claiming that the United States Embassy in Kosovo has praised the work of Albin Kurti’s government in the north, declaring “Safe visits and free walking for the first time in 25 years.” This claim was published by the “Lule Gjeli” account and the “Gazeta 17 Shkurti” and “Albania USA” pages on Facebook, as well as by the “folejadardanis” account on TikTok. After conducting online research, hibrid.info has confirmed that such a statement was not made by the US Embassy in Kosovo. (here)
Several videos were shared claiming that China had broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza and sent humanitarian aid. In fact, there is no evidence to support these claims; the videos released contain footage from previous events that are unrelated to any actual humanitarian intervention by China in Gaza. (here)
Unverified content
A photo is published showing members of the Kosovo Police, with the caption claiming that “The competition for police officers opens in June”. This content was published on May 18 on TikTok by an account named “lajmet_rrethpolicise”. Hibrid.info has not found any official announcement from this institution confirming the claim. (here)