Last week was characterized by a dominance of clickbait articles in the misinformation ecosystem in Kosovo. The clickbait content was related to job advertisements, fuel prices, suicides and police killings, but was old news or had nothing to do with Kosovo.
The disinformation articles were related to topics such as the ban on Coca Cola, shootings, and the outbreak of a conflict in the north.
The fraudulent content was related to a prize game using the image of Halil Kastrati, apartment sales, and voting on Big Brother Vip Albania.
Conspiracy theories regarding the Pepsi logo, the Balenciaga company name, and the characters from the animated film "Minions."
Unverified content regarding the claim that the West, led by the US, has prepared a list of six punitive points against Prime Minister Kurti for not establishing the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities.
Manipulation of facts in the article about an incident in Mogilë/Mogilë, Kllokot, claiming to present it as an attack on a citizen of the Serbian community motivated by, as they allude, "anti-Serbian hatred and hysteria incited by the Kurti regime."
Clickbait
Several Facebook pages have published on January 29 a job vacancy advertised by Kampi Bondsteel. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this vacancy is old, published in November 2022. While the aforementioned pages have tried to present it as current. (here)
The portal "Kosova-sot.info" has published an article regarding the change in fuel prices in Albania. However, the title did not clarify which country it was referring to, implying that the news is about Kosovo. (here)
The portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article about a student who committed suicide in a university bathroom. This online medium is a portal that operates in Kosovo and has the dominant number of readers from Kosovo, based on the page's followers on Facebook. Therefore, not providing information about the location of the incident can very easily misinform readers, making them think that this event took place in Kosovo. (here)
The portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article regarding the murder of a 28-year-old man by the police. The content states that the event took place in Ohio, USA, while this is not stated in the title, leaving room to think that the event may have taken place in Kosovo. This online medium is a portal that operates in Kosovo and that has the dominant number of readers from Kosovo, based on the followers of the page on Facebook. So, the failure to provide information about the place of the event in the title or in the photograph. This could very easily misinform readers, making them think that this event took place in Kosovo. (here)
disinformation
The dubious portal “truenewsq.com” has published an old article from 2018, which it has tried to present as current. The news from 2018 was about the ban on the import of Coca Cola products from Serbia into Kosovo. Apparently, the dubious portal has tried to link this article to the campaign to boycott Serbian products in Kosovo, which is currently underway. (here)
Several Facebook pages have published an old article from November 2022 regarding the report of gunfire in northern Mitrovica. These pages have tried to present this old event as current. (here)
Several Facebook social media pages have published articles related to northern Kosovo. One article claims that the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” has warned of an outbreak of conflict in Kosovo, while the other article talks about several masked people who have fired guns in the north while chanting “He is back, Kosovo is Serbia”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that both of these articles are old, referring to events in November (2022). (here)
Lies
A Facebook social media page with the name “??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????” and with photos of the leader of the “Balkan Orphans” association, has published a 90-minute long video material, claiming that Halil Kastrati, through a live video presentation, is announcing a reward for the audience. The video is divided into two corners: in the left corner Halil Kastrati is seen talking about the activities of the association, while in the right part a table photo with some horses and where it is written, “I will donate €5000 in cash to 500 people who correctly guess the headless horse in the photo! And it is true”. Hibrid.info has verified this video material, which has been confirmed to be old from 2020 and has nothing to do with any prize game, as claimed. (here)
The dubious portal “truenewsq.com” has published a fake advertisement for the sale of an apartment with a false price and content. Also, the image used in this article belongs to an apartment in Greece, which is rented through the online platform “Booking.com”. (here)
The dubious portal “truepostnew.com” has published an article claiming that the content contains a link to vote for the nominees of the television show “Big Brother Vip Albania”. This link takes you to the online platform “Youtube”, and after clicking on it no video appears, but it is said that the video material has been deleted by the user. Also, based on the research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that there is no possibility to vote online for the nominees in this television show and that the only way is through telephone messages (SMS). (here)
Conspiracy theory
Accounts on “Tik Tok” that shared content in Albanian have claimed that the logo of the carbonated drink “Pepsi” if turned upside down creates the word “isded” which in Albanian means dead. This claim has also been found in several accounts in English, which raise the same theory. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been found that the word Pepsi is derived from the ancient Greek “pépsis” which means “cooking, fermentation or digestion”, based on which the enzyme “pepsin” used as an ingredient in the drink’s formula is named. (here)
A TikTok account has posted a video claiming that the name Balenciaga means "King Baal," who is described as a king with the power to make people invisible and who rules over legions of demons. After fact-checking, hibrid.info has confirmed that Balenciaga is named after its creator, Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre. (here)
A TikTok account has posted a video claiming that the characters in the animated film "Minions" are based on a photograph of "Jewish children tortured by the Nazis during the Holocaust." After fact-checking, hibrid.info has confirmed that the image used by this TikTok account does not depict Jewish children, as claimed, but professional divers in diving gear from around 1909. (here)
error
The dubious portal “televizioni-24.com” has published an article about the Serbian Milan footballer, Marko Lazetić, who has refused to transfer to the Albanian team Partizani. However, the dubious portal in this article seems to have mistakenly placed the image of the former Italian Milan footballer, Pietro Pellegri. (here)
Unverified content
Some Serbian-language media outlets have claimed that the West, led by the US, has prepared a list of six punitive measures against Prime Minister Kurti for not establishing the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities. As claimed by some Serbian-language media outlets, the six points relate to the telephone prefix, control of border crossings, complete denial of financial support from the West, freezing the visa liberalization procedure and holding EU membership hostage. For the above claim, the Serbian-language media outlets do not provide sources on which to base the claim made. Also, in the statements of American representatives regarding the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, there is no mention of punitive measures for not establishing this association. (here)
Manipulation of facts
Several Serbian-language media outlets have published an article about an attack on a Serbian citizen in Mogilë/Mogilë, Kllokot, claiming to be motivated by, as they allude, “the hatred and anti-Serb hysteria incited by the Kurti regime.” The allegations are based on the reactions of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, the Serbian political entity Srpska Lista (Srpska Lista) and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. The Kosovo Police report states that the incident in question occurred as a result of a fight between two citizens (one Albanian, the other Serb), after a momentary disagreement over a pet (a dog). (here)