Last week was characterized by the dominance of clickbait content in the misinformation ecosphere in Kosovo.
The clickbait content was about a death, an accident, the arrest of an actor, the confiscation of Burdushi's cars, and the ban on Muslim girls wearing Islamic clothing entering schools, which were given a general title in the title without revealing the location of the event or who it was about.
The disinformation related to the claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had attended the funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the recruitment of Ukrainian soldiers, and the claim that Switzerland is looking for workers.
We had manipulation of facts regarding the threat against Prime Minister Kurti and the withdrawal of Turkish KFOR soldiers.
Fake news that Xhaka said "I don't have the heart to score against Kosovo tomorrow".
Conspiracy theory by Alfred Cako and the interpretation of the episode of "The Simpsons" where it is about the film "Kosovar Autumn".
Error in reporting the Albania-Czech Republic match.
Clickbait
The information portal “Botasot.info” has published an article titled “1 and a half month old baby found dead in bed, had burns and bruises”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title of the article is a generalization that does not clarify in which country the event took place. Considering that the portal in question is registered in Kosovo (see here), as well as based on the data on the media outlet’s Facebook page, where it can be seen that the page’s followers are mainly Albanian speakers, this without clarity of the location of the event in the title, implies that it took place in Kosovo. (here)
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article about an accident on the “Milos Veliki” highway in Serbia, but the location of the incident is not disclosed in the title of the article. Because the information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has the largest number of readers from Kosovo, the failure to specify the location of the incident in the title by this portal could very easily result in misinforming readers, making them think that the incident occurred in Kosovo. (here)
The information portal “Insajderi.org” has published an article titled “Famous actor arrested, suspected of sexual assault”. After verifying the facts presented in the content, hibrid.info has confirmed that the title is a generalization that does not clarify which country the actor was arrested from. Knowing that this information portal has the majority of readers Albanian speakers, this may misinform readers that the event took place in Kosovo. (here)
“FrontOnline.net” has reported on a vehicle confiscated by the state of Kosovo, which was owned by the doctor Hysri Peqani – Burdushi, and that the same is now being used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the title of this article claims that it was taken by the minister of this institution, Xhelal Sveçla. However, the response of the MUP given to this information portal states that the vehicle is being used for the needs of the Ministry, following a request made to the Agency for the Administration of Sequestered or Confiscated Property. (here)
The information portal “kosova-sot.info” has published an article titled “Schools ban 67 girls wearing Muslim clothing from entering”. After verifying the facts presented in the content, hibrid.info has confirmed that the title is a generalization that does not clarify in which country 67 girls wearing Muslim clothing were banned from entering school. Despite the fact that this portal's primary readers are from Kosovo, the failure to provide information about the location of the event can very easily misinform its readers, making them think that the event took place in Kosovo, as observed from the readers' comments on the news post on Facebook. (here)
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article about the death of a person in Italy, but the location of the event is not specified in the title of the article. The online medium “kosova-sot.info”, which is a portal operating in Kosovo based on the followers of the Facebook page, has the largest number of readers from Kosovo. Therefore, the failure to specify where the event in the title occurred, by this portal, could very easily result in misinforming readers, making them think that it is about an event that occurred in Kosovo. (here)
disinformation
Several Facebook pages and the social network X (formerly Twitter) have published a video claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the former leader of the mercenary group “Wagner”. The video footage shared on social media shows the Russian president laying flowers on a coffin, greeting people and paying respects to an open coffin before finally getting into his limousine. In the final seconds of the video, Putin is seen leaving alone. After a fact-check by Reuters, it was found that the video footage does not show Putin at the funeral for Prigozhin. The video footage is from 2013, when Putin attended the funeral of his judo coach, Rakhlin. (here)
“Investiguesi Shkrimor”, an account with propaganda content in the Albanian language on Facebook, has published a post, where through a photo and a short video material, it claims that “Wherever Ukrainians go, they leave – Hibrid.info, after research conducted through online search engines, has found the official announcement published on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, which explains that 12 people were arrested after they presented themselves as tourists without explaining the reason for crossing the border, while 2 of them attempted to cross the checkpoint on foot. (here)
“Investiguesi Shkrimor”, an account with propaganda content in the Albanian language on Facebook, has published a post, where through a short video material, it claims that “Kiev authorities recruit every person they can find on the streets, squares, supermarkets”. After verifying the content published by this account, it is seen that the person dressed in military clothes creates satirical videos that contain humor in themselves. So, the account “Investiguesi Shkrimor” has published this satirical video as something real with the claim that the recruitment of Ukrainians into the army is happening violently even on the streets. (here)
The Facebook page “Atdheu Lajm” has published an article titled “Switzerland is looking for workers – here are the jobs that are needed without a diploma”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title of this article does not correspond to the content. The content explains that it concerns five professions in Switzerland, which do not require a diploma, but have other criteria. (here)
Manipulation of facts
Several news portals have published an article titled ““Mission Successfully Accomplished” - Turkish KFOR Soldiers to Leave Kosovo Tomorrow”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the title does not correspond to the content. The title of this article suggests that it refers to all Turkish KFOR soldiers, while the content clarifies that Turkey is withdrawing reserve soldiers from Kosovo, who arrived in June of this year in response to NATO’s request following the recent tensions in the north. (here)
Several Albanian-language media outlets have published an article with the claim in the headline that the profile named “Severna Brigada” is threatening the life of Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti. After verifying the content posted on Facebook by the “Severna Brigada” profile, it was found that the content does not definitively imply a threat to Kurti’s life, as claimed in the headline. (here)
Fake news
The Facebook page "Gazeta Aktuale" has published an image of Granit Xhaka with the caption claiming that the footballer has declared that "I don't have the heart to score against Kosovo tomorrow". However, hibrid.info has researched and found no credible facts and evidence that such a statement came from the aforementioned footballer. (here)
Conspiracy theory
Albanian conspiracist Alfred Cako, in a post on his Facebook profile, claimed that a major war awaits us in the last two weeks, and that these weeks they will throw snake venom at us with airplanes. These conspiratorial predictions of Cako are not based on concrete facts and credible sources. (here)
It was claimed that a 2005 episode of The Simpsons about the film “Kosovo Autumn” in which two soldiers are seen on stage, predicted war in Kosovo during the fall of that year. No evidence has been provided to prove that The Simpsons predicted a war in the fall as claimed. (here)
error
It was claimed in the title of the article of the information portal “inlajmi.com” published on July 7 that the Albanian national team had won the match against the Czech Republic and thus had one point more than them in the points table. But the facts show that Albania did not win the match against the Czech Republic, but the match ended with a draw, and in the points table it has one point less than the Czech national team. (here)