Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
During the period 8–14 December 2025, the media landscape and social networks in Kosovo were characterized by the dominance of fake news, which constituted the main axis of misinformation in this period.
The fake news was published mainly on social networks Facebook and TikTok, by unofficial pages and accounts such as “Mekuli Press”, “60sekonda”, “albinicilini” and “transparmentmedia1”. Thematically, this fake news focused on two main directions: fabricated statements attributed to foreign political figures regarding developments in Kosovo, as well as fake polls for the December 28 parliamentary elections, which were not based on any credible source and aimed to influence or manipulate public opinion through viral content.
The misleading content was published on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram by various unofficial pages and accounts, such as “Tana t'zezat”, “Skenderaj Press”, “UÇK – Ushtria Đlirimtare e Kosovës”, “Rruga Kombetare”, “Luan Pavata”, “Ibrahim-Miran Kelmendi”, “reporterirks”, “al_press.online”, “Lajmi i Fundit” and “Lajme Nga Bota”. Thematically, these cases focused on visual manipulation through images generated with artificial intelligence, where Albin Kurti was falsely presented in the company of Serbian politicians or in NATO environments, with the aim of creating false perceptions and influencing public opinion through misleading visual content.
The unverified content was published mainly by online media and Facebook pages in Kosovo, including “klankosova.tv”, “ekonomiaonline.com”, “gazeta10.com”, “lajmi.net”, “paparaci.com”, “gazetametro.net”, “demokracia.com”, “orainfo.com”, “jepize.com”, “radiostargjilan.com”, as well as the pages “Sinjali”, “Jepi zë”, “Bota Sot E Re” and “Fokus +”. Thematically, these publications addressed the claim of Kosovo’s decline in the media freedom rankings, presenting it as a current development, although the rankings had been published earlier by the organization “Reporters Without Borders”, which makes the content misleading due to the lack of time context.
The disinformation was published on Facebook by the page “Forcat e Kosova”, through a video material showing footage of a person speaking in Serbian and training of Serbian armed forces. Thematically, the content aimed to create alarm and fear by falsely claiming that it was about a “commander” of the Serbian gendarmerie warning of the invasion of Kosovo, although verification showed that the person in the video was a journalist for TV Pink and that his statement had no connection to Kosovo.
Lies
Photos have been published in which Albin Kurti, the acting prime minister of Kosovo, appears in the presence of Serbian politicians. In one image, he appears in front of Vojislav Kostunica, the former prime minister of Serbia. In another, he appears in the presence of Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia, and Serbian politician Vojislav Šešel. While in the last photo, he appears next to Milan Radojčić, the former deputy leader of the Serbian List. These posts were published on Saturday (December 6) on Facebook by the pages “Tana t'zezat” (here and here), “Skenderaj Press”, “UCK – Ushtria Đlirimtare e Kosova” and by the accounts with the names “Rruga Kombetare”, “Luan Pavata” and “Ibrahim-Miran Kelmendi”. The photos were also published on TikTok by the account with the name “reporterirks” and on Instagram by the account with the name “al_press.online” (here and here). The photos are generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). (here)
An image is published showing Albin Kurti, the acting prime minister, at NATO headquarters, along with people wearing military uniforms, who appear to be NATO military officials. This content was published on Monday (December 8) on Facebook by the page named “Lajmi i Fundit” and on Tuesday (December 9) by the account named “Lajme Nga Bota”. Hibrid.info found that these images were generated by artificial intelligence (AI). (here)
Fake news
On Sunday (December 7), a Facebook post was published by the page “Mekuli Press” claiming that the President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, said that “the Kosovo government is facing opponents paid by Vučić”. The same claim was later published by another Facebook page “60sekonda”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that Milanović did not make such a statement. Also, this claim has been circulating on Facebook since 2023. (here)
The account named “albinicilini” on TikTok has published three pieces of content that appear to be election polls for the December 28 parliamentary elections. Hibrid.info's verification has shown that these polls are completely fake: they are not found in any credible source and all the basic data of a poll is missing. The publications have received thousands of views and comments, fueling unfounded debate. (here)
The TikTok account “transparmentmedia1” has published an image through which it falsely claimed that it is a poll for the parliamentary elections, conducted by the “prestigious American company UGBA”. Hibrid.info has verified that such an acronym does not exist for companies that deal with public opinion measurement and that no measurement for the December 28 elections has been published in any credible source of information. Fake polls are often circulating before the elections to manipulate public opinion. (here)
Unverified content
An article is published claiming that Kosovo has declined in terms of media freedom, ranking 99th. This position makes Kosovo the worst of the Balkan countries. This claim was published on Monday (December 8) by media outlets such as “klankosova.tv”, “ekonomiaonline.com”, “gazeta10.com”, “lajmi.net”, “paparaci.com”, “gazetametro.net”, “demokracia.com”, “orainfo.com”, “jepize.com”, “radiostargjilan.com” and on Facebook pages such as “Sinjali”, “Jepi zë”, “Bota Sot E Re” and “Fokus +”. Hibrid.info has found that the ranking of countries in terms of media freedom was published earlier (May 2) by the organization “Reporters Without Borders”. This ranking was published by these media outlets and pages on Monday (December 8) as current. (here)
disinformation
A video material has been published on Facebook by the page “Forcat e Kosova”, which shows footage of a person speaking in Serbian, as well as members of the Serbian armed forces conducting training. Through this video material, the aforementioned page claims that the person speaking in the video has stated that “the soldiers are not exercising in vain, but have the aim of invading Kosovo”. While the protagonist of this video is referred to as “a 'commander' of the Serbian gendarmerie”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the person speaking in the video is a journalist from the Serbian-language black news media “TV Pink”, Mladen Mijatović. Hibrid.info has translated the statement of journalist Mijatović, which was confirmed that in no case did he mention Kosovo, as falsely claimed by the page “Forcat e Kosova”. (here)