Disinformation articles have dominated the misinformation ecosystem in Kosovo last week.
The disinformation was mainly related to claims about a new earthquake in Turkey, job vacancies in Germany, residence permit conditions in Greece, and the liberalization of product prices.
Conspiracy theories from Serbian-language media about the existence of a plan to purge Serbian citizens from Kosovo.
Unverified content regarding the injury of the Serbian citizen in the north, as well as the number of goals scored within a season in Mallorca and the achievement of the record by Vedat Muriqi.
Clickbait articles about murder and death, which did not disclose the location of the event in the title, thus leaving room for it to be understood that the events were related to Kosovo.
Fake news that a tsunami has destroyed the city of Side in Turkey.
Deceptive content with names or photos of VIP or unknown persons claiming that a prize game is being organized, namely the giving away of wealth for health reasons.
disinformation
The Facebook pages “Exclusive Albania Today” and “Feja Ime” have published an article titled “Two new 6.4 magnitude earthquakes in Turkey, deaths reported and hundreds injured”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the news is old and relates to the February 20 earthquakes that hit the southern province of Hatay in Turkey. So, the aforementioned pages have published this old news with the claim of presenting it as current. (here)
The suspicious portal with content in the Albanian language “Promakale.com” has published an article titled “COMPANY “FA-NEZIRI” LOOKS FOR 40 WORKERS IN GERMANY, WORK VISAS ARE PROVIDED BY THE COMPANY”. After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this job vacancy in Germany is old, published in May 2022. So, the suspicious portal has tried to present it as current. (here)
The dubious portal “gazetaditore.net” has published an announcement from a law firm in Greece, which shows the services it provides regarding residence permits. However, this dubious portal has given this article a fabricated title with the claim that the Greek state has announced changes regarding residence permits. (here)
Several Facebook pages have published an article titled “Prices of some items in Kosovo are being reduced, here are the prices of the items”. After fact-checking, hibrid.info has confirmed that this article is old, published on March 13, at the time when the Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS) had published the latest report regarding price movements of basic items within the week. (here)
Conspiracy theory
Serbian language media outlet “Alo.rs” has published an article claiming that there is a plan, which they call “cleansing”, where the cleansing of Serbs from the north is planned. The newspaper claims that the “cleansing” plan is actually Plan B, which was spoken about by the Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Blerim Vela. The claim of the Serbian language newspaper about the existence of the official Pristina plan, the so-called “cleansing”, is not based on facts or credible sources. Also, the claim that this plan is related to Plan B, which was spoken about by the Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Blerim Vela, does not stand up to the fact that Vela spoke about the realization of the elections taking into account the safety of the organizers and citizens, and not about any plan to cleanse Serbs from the north. (here)
Unverified content
Several Serbian-language media outlets have published an article about the injury of a Serbian citizen in northern Kosovo, claiming that the Kosovo Police special unit shot at him. Despite the fact that the injured man claims that the shots came at him as he passed the Kosovo Police checkpoint, he says that he is not 100% sure who shot him. The Kosovo Police, in its response to the case, first announced that it was not involved in this incident, then stated that it is suspected that police officers were involved in the incident. (here)
The information portal “kosovalive.net” has published an article claiming that Kosovar footballer, Vedat Muriqi, needs one more goal to break the historic record of the football team, Mallorca, for scoring goals within a season. After research conducted by hibrid.info, it was found that the claim made is not correct. Footballer Daniel Guiza has scored 27 goals within a season, meaning 15 goals more than Muriqi currently has (12 goals). (here)
The information portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article regarding the murder of five people in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. However, the title does not clarify in which city the incident occurred. This online medium is a portal that operates in Kosovo and that has the dominant number of readers from Kosovo, based on the followers of the page on Facebook. Therefore, not providing information about the place of the incident can very easily misinform readers, making them think that the murder occurred in one of the cities of Kosovo. (here)
The portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article that tells about the death of a baby in an apartment, an event that occurred in Adana, Turkey. While the title does not clarify in which country the event occurred. The news is clarified only in the content, where it is announced that the case in question occurred in the city of Adana in Turkey. Also, the photo placed in this article does not correspond to the content, since this image shows a Kosovo Police vehicle, which leaves room for misunderstanding among readers, making them think that the event occurred somewhere in Kosovo. (here)
The portal “Kosova-sot.info” has published an article about an event in Hungary, where the authorities of this country had found 17 immigrants loaded into a truck with Turkish license plates. But the title does not clarify in which country this event took place. Knowing that the media outlet in question is registered in Kosovo and the majority of its audience are Albanian speakers, the title placed on the article implies that the news item is about an event that occurred in our country. (here)
Fake news
The Albanian-language TikTok account “@mrgame.ks” has published a video showing large waves of water engulfing part of a tourist complex. The account captioned the video “Tsunami destroys everything in Side, Turkey in a matter of seconds.” After researching online search engines, hibrid.info has confirmed that this video was not filmed in the city of Side, Turkey, but rather in the resort city of Sochi, Russia. (here)
Lies
A Facebook social media page named “???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????” has published a nearly 6-hour long video material, claiming that, rap artist Capital T, through a live video presentation, is announcing a reward for the audience. Hibrid.info has verified this video material, which has been confirmed to be old from 2021 and the same has nothing to do with any prize game, as claimed. In this video, the aforementioned artist, at the time, had announced the cancellation of his performance at the “Beer Festival” in Korça, due to the presence of Serbian singer, Goran Bregović. (here)
The Facebook page named “Albana GUÇI Donacion” has published a post with photos of a woman, claiming through a fabricated story in Albanian, that the person seen in the image is of Albanian origin. Through this post, this account claims that this woman (Albana Guçi) has decided to donate money to 10 Albanian citizens, since she suffers from an illness. After research conducted through online search engines, based on the results provided, hibrid.info has found that the photos belong to a woman from Ukraine named Galina Krukovets. (here)