Disinformation articles and fake news have dominated the misinformation ecosystem in Kosovo over the past week. The fake news has been about unfounded claims about Mother Teresa, Serbia's disqualification from Eurovision, and the emergence of a new pandemic.
The disinformation related to a photo montage claiming that Kurti met with Kostunica; a photo claiming that the woman close to Tito is Berat Buzhala's mother, and an LVV announcement claiming that "Kosovo benefits from 4.2 billion euros from the EU's 'Common Market' program."
Deceptive content related to granting loans, selling apartments, and looking for a love relationship with images of foreign women.
Conspiracy theories regarding claims of a series of plans for the world, planned by the recent meeting (June 16, 2021) of US President Joe Biden with Russian President Vladimir Putin; as well as claims by Serbian-language media that Kurti is preparing incidents in the North.
Unverified content regarding the builders of the National Museum of Kosovo building; and that an Air Albania plane has caught fire.
Fake news
The TikTok account named “juliaalbanesi” has published a video material that shows an article by the German newspaper, “Die Welt”, about Mother Teresa. However, the content falsely claims that, in the article by the German newspaper, “Die Welt”, Mother Teresa is accused of child trafficking. After research by Hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the article by “Die Welt” on which this post by “juliaalbanesi” is based does not have the same content, so no claim of child trafficking by Mother Teresa was raised. (here)
Several Albanian-language news portals have published an article claiming that Serbia has been disqualified from the competition in the European song contest “Eurovision”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this claim made by these portals is not true. On the official Eurovision website, it is clear that Serbia has advanced to the final. (here)
The TikTok account, named “lumjanana009”, has published a video claiming the existence of an actual virus, which is considered dangerous. The content claims a pandemic called “Axar” which, as written, has reached China and which, according to this claim, will take the lives of millions of people. The video shows an image taken from the Albanian medium “Top Channel”, which shows the dangerous virus in China that has taken the lives of 17 people. Hibrid.info has verified the facts and has confirmed that the claims about a virus called “Axar” are unverifiable, while the image taken from “Top Channel” is from the beginning of the period of the appearance of the “Covid-19” virus. (here)
Lies
The dubious Albanian-language portal “popularnews71.net” has published two articles claiming that a woman from Tirana and another from Prizren are looking for a love relationship. After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has confirmed that the photographs in these two articles depict foreign women, not Albanians, as falsely claimed by the dubious portal “popularnews71.net”. (here)
The suspicious portal “freshnews213.com” has published a fake advertisement for the sale of an apartment. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this advertisement is fake. Also, the advertisement with a photo of this apartment, which is not for sale, but is for rent, was found. (here)
The Facebook page named “financimi” published a post on April 30 claiming to provide loans for the purchase of a house or car with an interest rate of 2%. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was noted that the information section about the activity (about) on the “Personal Loan” page does not contain any data that proves credibility or reliability and transparency. (here)
Conspiracy theory
A video material with the caption “Axar Pandemic in 2024” has been published on the social media “TikTok” by the account named “lumjanana009”, which claims a series of plans for the world, planned by the last meeting (June 16, 2021) of US President Joe Biden with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The video material claims that as a result of the meeting of the US and Russian leaders, the war in Ukraine, the use of biological weapons in Europe, and the disappearance of 20 thousand Chechens were planned. However, hibrid.info has managed to prove that the claims presented in this video material are unverified and as such do not stand. (here)
The Serbian language media outlet "Alo.rs" has published an article claiming that Albin Kurti will attempt to cause major incidents in the north of the Republic of Kosovo on May 28. The Russian media outlet Russia Today, in its Serbian language service, also published an article yesterday (May 9) with the title, "Kurti threatens Mitrovica that he will repeat the pogrom (the eradication of Serbs)", claiming that on May 28 Albin Kurti and his regime may provoke major incidents, where members of the Kosovo police special unit will intervene. For these claims, both the media outlet "Alo.rs" and the Russian media outlet do not provide any concrete facts or credible sources. (here)
disinformation
Several Facebook accounts have published a photo showing the image of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and former Serbian politician Vojislav Kostunica. The photo is captioned “Albin Kurti Serbian Agent, here’s the truth.” After research conducted through online search engines, it was confirmed that this photo is a photoshopped image. The original image shows former Serbian politician Vojislav Kostunica alongside former Serbian general Vladimir Lazarevic. So, the author of this photoshopped image has removed the image of Lazarevic and replaced it with Prime Minister Kurti. (here)
A Facebook account has published a photo claiming that the person shown in the image, on the left side of former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito, is the mother of journalist Berat Buzhala. The content also claims that the mothers of two other journalists, Halil Matoshi and Nexhmedin Spahiu, are also shown in the photo, but the same article states that such a claim has been denied by the journalists themselves. However, after hibrid.info contacted journalist Berat Buzhala, the latter denied the claim that the person in the photo is his mother. (here)
claimed that “Kosovo benefits from 4.2 billion euros from the EU program 'Common Market'”. After verification of the facts carried out by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this claim made by the Vetëvendosje Movement is not true. This is due to the fact that the amount of 4.2 billion euros is the value of the budget for seven years for all participating countries. However, LVV has removed (deleted) this announcement from the page, improving it. The new announcement, among other things, states “Kosovo becomes a beneficiary of the EU program 'Common Market', which reaches a total value of 4.2 billion euros”. (here)
Unverified content
A post has been published on the social network Facebook claiming that the National Museum of Kosovo was built by the Austrians around 1880. The post contains a photo of the National Museum of Kosovo with a Cyrillic inscription, but without the year the photo was taken. Based on the research conducted and the credible references provided by hibrid.info, it turns out that the claim that the National Museum of Kosovo was built by the Austrians is not true. More precisely, the building was built by the Ottoman Empire as a government building in Pristina in a neo-baroque style. (here)
Several Albanian-language portals have published an article claiming that an “Air Albania” plane has caught fire. These portals have made this claim by referring to a video made by “Report TV”. However, the video material published by “Report TV” does not say that the plane has caught fire, but refers to a device. (here)