Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
Misinformation and deceptive content are what have dominated over the past week in terms of misinformation published in the media, dubious portals, and social media pages and accounts.
Disinformation was published on social media pages and news portals, related to the claim that the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, held a rally in Greece without the consent of the Greek authorities; that Switzerland is looking for thousands of workers. A connection was alleged between the ban on the visit of Patriarch Porfirije to Kosovo and the European Union sanctions against Kosovo.
The misleading content was published by social media pages, about the possibility of purchasing an apartment in Gjakova through a mortgage loan; about assistance from the Kosovo Red Cross for people suffering from diabetes; about the opening of a job competition, where 100 medical device packagers are required.
Clikcbait/Dezifnormatë has evaluated the article published on an information portal where, through the title, it is claimed that the Albanian footballer, Armando Broja, has been transferred to one of the Serie A clubs in Italy.
The statement of the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, who claimed without evidence that the possible admission of Kosovo to the Council of Europe is a contribution to the creation of what he calls "Greater Albania"; as well as the claim that in a video published on social media, machines are seen taking sand from the deserts of Africa, spreading it into the atmosphere, to pollute the air, has been assessed as a conspiracy theory.
Claims published on social media that 33 "BMC Vuran" military vehicles have arrived at the Kosovo Security Force barracks from Turkey; that the number of Albanians worldwide is 18,2 million have been assessed as unverified content.
The manipulation of facts has been published on social media, where through a video material, showing the moment of the arrest of an official of the municipality of Gjilan, suspected of corruption, it is claimed that the same is close to the current mayor of Gjilan, Alban Hyseni.
Clickbait articles have been published on news portals regarding the claim that six footballers of Albanian origin will be part of the Swiss national team at the European Championship; as well as an article about a tragic case, the title of which does not disclose the location of the event.
The claim in a video that Putin said he would attack Albania was deemed fake news.
disinformation
It was alleged that the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, held a rally in Greece without the consent of the Greek authorities. This content was published on May 13 by a social media account “Telegram” with content in Serbian. After a fact-check conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the claim made by the aforementioned account is not true. Based on reports in the Greek media, it is stated that Edi Rama’s visit was private without official character, and that the Greek Government did not prohibit this rally. (here)
An article was published on May 14th claiming that Switzerland is looking for thousands of workers. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this article is from 2022 and that it attempted to falsely present itself as current. (here)
A connection has been alleged between the ban on Patriarch Porfirije's visit to Kosovo and the European Union's sanctions against Kosovo. "Forget about lifting sanctions, stand up for the ban on Porfirije's entry" is the title that the portal "ntv.al" published on May 15. The media outlet's article itself does not match the title. In the content of the article, there was no connection between the ban on Porfirije's visit and the continuation of the measures against Kosovo. (here)
Clickbait/Disinformation
Through the headline in an article, it is claimed that the Albanian footballer, Armando Broja, has been transferred to one of the Serie A clubs in Italy. The information portal “futbolli.al” published on May 11 the article titled: “The bomb of the summer transfer market, Armando Broja is transferred to Serie A”. The headline that the striker Broja has been transferred to Serie A is not accurate. Even the article of “futbolli.al” itself shows that, according to reports, Milan is the club that intends to borrow the striker from Shkodra during the summer. However, officially the player at the time of the report continues to be part of Fulham, as loaned from Chelsea in London. (here)
Conspiracy theory
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has claimed without evidence that Kosovo’s possible accession to the Council of Europe is a contribution to the creation of what he calls “Greater Albania”. Four Serbian language media outlets “kurir.rs”, “novosti.rs”, “telegraf.rs” and “politika.rs” have broadcast a statement by Vulin on May 13. All four aforementioned media outlets have quoted the same statement by Vulin as a response to the visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to Athens, Greece on Sunday. Describing it as a promotion of “Greater Albania”, Vulin reportedly said that “only Serbs and the Serbian world can stop it, but also Greeks”. (here)
Machines that are taking sand from the deserts of Africa, spreading it into the atmosphere, to pollute the air. This is the claim of a video material published on April 4, by the account named “dardangashi505”, on Instagram. However, hibrid.info has found that the images shown do not represent the deserts of Africa and that they show the work of some agricultural machinery in Brazil. (here)
Unverified content
It has been claimed that 33 “BMC Vuran” military vehicles have arrived at the Kosovo Security Force barracks from Turkey. The claim was made by the Facebook page “Diaspora me Albinin” through a post published on Sunday (May 12). However, after searching by hibrid.info it turns out that there is no official announcement from the institutions about the number of this type of weapons that the KSF possesses and that the content is unverified. (here)
Through an article published on Facebook, it is claimed that the number of Albanians worldwide is 18,2 million. The portal “kercova.net” made the publication on its Facebook page on Thursday (May 16). “All Albanians are 18.2 million..”, is the title of the article and the Facebook post. After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that this post leads to an old article, with content taken from a forum, and that it has no source based on facts. (here)
Lies
A campaign was published on May 13th for the possibility of purchasing an apartment in Gjakova through a mortgage loan. The post was published on Facebook by the page “Personal Loan”. Hibrid.info has verified the facts about this campaign, where it has been confirmed that this page has published the post that represents a false announcement, by also placing a link that sends to the private message space on this page. After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has managed to confirm that the page “Personal Loan” has taken the post from the announcement of the “Raiffeisen” bank in Kosovo, which has subsequently removed the identifying logo. (here)
A Facebook post claimed to be providing assistance from the Kosovo Red Cross for people suffering from diabetes. “Dismal Unequaled”, a Facebook account, published a post on May 13 in which it called for people with diabetes to apply for help from the Red Cross. “Red Cross Foundation for Diabetes. Every diabetic who will apply today will receive help from the Red Cross”, it says in the description of the photo published on Facebook by this account, accompanied by the flag of Kosovo. After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that the post uses old photos from foreign countries and that clicking on the article leads to a suspicious page with a fake article. (here)
A sponsored link has been found and published, in the form of an image, in the caption of which it is claimed that a job vacancy has been opened, where 100 medical device packagers are required. The link was published (May 10) by a Facebook page, under the name “WK Service”. However, the link provided, after clicking, does not display the necessary information for applying to the alleged vacancy. (here)
Manipulation of facts
A video has been published showing the moment of the arrest of an official of the municipality of Gjilan, suspected of corruption. The video was published on several TikTok accounts on May 12 and 13, and one of them even claims that the suspect is close to the current mayor of Gjilan, Alban Hyseni. However, after verification by hibrid.info, it was found that it is an event that occurred in 2018. (here)
Clickbait
“Shocking case, 14-year-old girl raped by 12 people. 11-year-old boy was a guard”, is the title of the article accompanied by a photo of a forest, published on information portals with content in the Albanian language. Belgium is the country where it was reported that a 14-year-old girl was raped by 12 people. However, in the articles published on Monday (May 13), the Albanian-language information media “a2news.com”, “botapress.info” and “oranews.tv” did not mention the location in the title. The content of the article is the same in all three media. Right at the beginning of the article it is indicated that a case that occurred in Belgium is being reported. (here)
It was claimed that six footballers of Albanian origin will be part of the Swiss national team at the European Championship. The article was published by the information portal “ina-online.net” on May 17 and is titled “List published! 6 Albanians will be part of the Swiss team at Euro 2024”. The Swiss national team has published a preliminary list of 38 players, which also includes the names of six footballers of Albanian origin. However, it is not yet known how many of them will be selected in the final list for the European Championship. (here)
Fake news
It was claimed through a video that Putin said he would attack Albania. But, after verifying the facts, hibrid.info has proven that the claim is false. Based on the audio attached to this video, hibrid.info has managed to prove that this is news from 2022, at a time when Russia had approved a list of countries, as it calls them, unfriendly, which included Albania. (here)