Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
As a result of the findings and treatments of misinformation published last week, disinformation is what dominated the misinformation ecosphere.
Almost all disinformation has been published on social media. On Facebook, the claim was published that a highway in Kosovo has a traffic sign that allows driving without a speed limit. On TikTok, the old image of the Albanian National Flag placed on a hill in the city of Zveçan was published as current; as well as the false claim that 5000 long weapons for the special unit of the Kosovo Police have just arrived in Kosovo. An article was published on an information portal, the title of which claims that journalist Milaim Zeka has described a politician as, 'Vučić's Kosovo spy'.
An error was reported about flooding in Pristina with illustrative photos from the city of Shkodra.
Deceptive content has been published on social media, where a Facebook post once again staged a prize game claiming that Albanian singer Leonora Jakupi would reward 400 people who comment on a video; a video (deepfake) was published on TikTok showing the US president speaking about the possibility of conflict in the Balkans and US intervention.
Clickbait content is published on information portals, where the headlines do not correspond to the content, it is not disclosed that it is an analyst's opinion and is presented as news.
Unverified content has been published by social media pages and news portals. A claim was published that a member of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) was injured by an explosive device. A film scene was also published with the claim that the footage shows members of the Kosovo Police during an action.
The conspiracy theory was published by the Serbian-language media outlet in Kosovo, "Kosovo-Online", which reported on an incident at a school in the village of Gojbulë, Vushtrri, claiming without evidence that the perpetrators of this act were Albanians.
Fake news has been published on social media, claiming that the price of bread in Kosovo will drop to 25 cents from June 1; that Turkey will donate ten Apache combat helicopters to the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF); that Kosovo has activated its drones and is ready to intervene in the Presevo Valley.
error
An article has been published reporting on flooding in Prishtina. The news was published on May 20 by “albinfo.ch”, an Albanian-language portal operating in Switzerland. However, after checking by hibrid.info, it was found that the image used to present the news does not show a view of Prishtina. Based on the importance of photography in digital journalism texts, hibrid.info estimates that in this case, the audience may take the photograph presented in this article as accurate. (here)
Lies
A Facebook post has once again staged a prize game claiming that Albanian singer Leonora Jakupi will reward 400 people who comment on a video. "Gift for fans❤️???? Hello!! I bless you all!! The first 400 who say (Hello), I will give you €10,000 'today'", says the description of the video, which is more than four hours long, and in which it is claimed that the artist is announcing the prize in a live video appearance. Hibrid.info had already verified this video material in the past. It is about content dating back to 2019 and that has nothing to do with any prize game. (here)
A video material was published showing the President of the United States of America (USA), Joe Biden, saying that “If Serbia launches aggression against its neighbors, Kosovo or Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States of America will not hesitate to use all necessary force in response”. This video material was published on May 3 on the social media TikTok by the account “DardaniaTimes”. After verification carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this video material is manipulated (deepfake). So, such a statement was not made by the American president. (here)
Clickbait
“Tomorrow will be a difficult day, the future of Kosovo is sealed” is the title of an article published on Monday (May 20), accompanied by the image of American professor Daniel Serwer. The publication was made by the Albanian-language content portal “ntv.al”. After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that neither such a thing is contained in the article in question nor that such a statement was given by Serwer. (here)
“Blinded by the internal war, the West is also disappointed by the opposition in Kosovo” is the title of an article published on April 21 on the information portal “ntv.al”. The article is illustrated with photographs showing the three leaders of the opposition parties in Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj from AAK, Lumir Abdixhiku from LDK and Memli Krasniqi from PDK. Hibrid.info has verified the facts and has confirmed that the published article presents an opinion, but that such a thing has not been made clear by the publisher. The title, the photograph, nor the content, do not specify that the article presents an opinion, which could be understood as meaning that the article constitutes news. (here)
An article titled, “Edi Rama is lying: – Serbia will never recognize Kosovo!” has been published. The article was published on Facebook on May 21, by “Bota Sot”, a page of the portal “botasot.info”. Hibrid.info has found that the article published by “botasot.info” presents an opinion, although such a thing is not made clear in the publication on the Facebook page of this portal. Also, the title of the opinion was incorrectly presented as a statement by Prime Minister Rama. (here)
disinformation
A video posted on a Facebook page with Albanian content claims that a traffic sign that allows driving without a speed limit is located on a highway in Kosovo. The video was posted on Facebook on May 19 by the page named “Gazetavip.com”. Hibrid.info, after analyzing this video, has noticed that a traffic sign appears in the image, which indicates the end of all road stops. However, according to the Law on Road Traffic in Kosovo, the maximum speed allowed outside urban areas on highways is one hundred and thirty (130) km/h. (here)
An old image of the Albanian National Flag placed on a hill in the city of Zveçan is being presented as current. The video material showing the National Flag on the Zveçan hill was published on May 20 on TikTok by the account named “shqiponja.ksv”. The images appearing in this video material also feature the logo of the portal “jepize.com”. The fact-checking team at Hibrid.info has conducted research, which has confirmed that the video material is old, more precisely from 2023. (here)
An article has been published, the title of which claims that journalist Milaim Zeka has described a politician as 'Vučić's Kosovo spy'. The article was published on May 23 on the television portal "ntv.al". Hibrid.info has found that the former member of the Kosovo Assembly, Zeka, has not described any politician with the alleged epithet. (here)
Through a video material with photographs, it is claimed that 5000 long weapons have just arrived in Kosovo for the special unit of the Kosovo Police. The content was published on Friday (May 24) by the account named “informohusaktedhekorrekt” on TikTok. “Government of Kosovo: 5000 long weapons have just arrived for the special unit!” and “Police like in the EU” are the descriptions used in the material where photos of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, and the Director of the Police, Gazmend Hoxha, with long weapons are seen. After verification, it turns out that the photos were published on January 12 by Minister Sveçla on Facebook. (see here). Sveçla did not give figures in his post on how many long weapons the Kosovo Police has been supplied with. (here)
Unverified content
Through a short video (18 seconds), it is claimed that the footage was taken on a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft of “Singapore Airlines”, which on May 21 was hit by severe turbulence, resulting in the death of one person and the injury of many others. The video was published by a Facebook account named Urim Duka. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the video does not belong to this event and that it was taken in 2019, during a flight from Kosovo to Switzerland. (here)
A video material has been published showing members of the Kosovo Police during an action. The caption of this video material reads “A video is circulating on the TikTok social network where the police can be seen following a very professional and vigilant police car”. The video material was published on Facebook on May 23 by the page “Kosova Online 24/7”. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the footage does not represent any real action by the Kosovo Police, but that these footage were taken during the filming of the Kosovar series “Rrugët”. (here)
It is alleged that a member of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) has been injured by an explosive device. The article was published by Albanian-language online media such as “Indeksonline.net”, “Zeri.info” and “Insajderi.org”. KSF spokesperson Vëllazërim Qerimi, for Klankosova.tv denied media reports that the injured person is a member of the KSF. (here)
Conspiracy theory
The Serbian online media outlet in Kosovo, “Kosovo-Online”, has reported on an incident at a school in the village of Gojbulë, Vushtrri, claiming without evidence that the perpetrators of this crime are Albanians. This media outlet based its claim that the perpetrators of this crime are Albanians on a statement by the principal of this school, who also stated that they have video footage of the incident, which has not been published, but also that the case has been reported to the police. The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has also claimed without evidence that the perpetrators of this crime are a group of Albanians. This office has also claimed that there are video recordings of the perpetrators of the alleged crime, but which it has not published. (here)
Fake news
The Facebook page named “Publiku” has published a video in which it claimed that the price of bread in Kosovo will drop to 25 cents from June 1. After checking and verifying the facts, hibrid.info has not found any published information regarding this alleged discount. (here)
It is alleged that Turkey will donate ten Apache combat helicopters to the Kosovo Security Forces. The alleged information was published through an image on TikTok by the account "kosovounit". Hibrid.info has addressed and verified the same claim earlier (see here). From the verified facts, Hibrid.info has not found any information published in credible media that claims that Turkey has given the KSF 10 Apache combat helicopters. (here)
It has been claimed through a video that Kosovo has activated its drones and is ready to intervene in the Presevo Valley. The account named “Kingdom of Dardania” on TikTok published a video on April 21 in which it claimed that “Kosovo’s MQ-9 Reaper drone is ready to intervene in Presevo”. In addition to this caption on the video, in the description of the content the account wrote: “While Serbia conducts military exercises with kamikaze drones, Kosovo is known to have activated all its drones”. After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that the video contains old footage that was found in a video material published by “nbcnews.com” when it reported in March 2023 that “Russia has denied that its plane collided with an American drone over the Black Sea”. (here)