Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
Two images have been published, claiming to present a survey regarding popular support for political entities in Kosovo, ahead of the February 9 parliamentary elections.
in image The first one published yesterday (January 14) on Facebook by a page called "Kosova.info" claims that this survey was conducted by the American company SDGs Global Survey. While image The second was published on January 4 on TikTok by an account named "partiademokratike88".
Both of these alleged polls show the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) as the winner if the elections were held today.
What is the truth?
After research conducted by hibrid.info, it was found that one survey was not published by credible sources, while the other was manipulated.
What is the manipulation with this survey?
After verification, hibrid.info found that the publication used data from a research published in December 2022, by the "PIPOS" Institute on the "Rubikon" show on KlanKosova (see here).
In the results published at the time by "PIPOS", the Vetëvendosje Movement (VV) was in the lead with 35.5%. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) was second with 22.2% and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) was third with 21.5%.
So, in this publication, the order of the parties on the list has changed. PDK is in first place with 35.5%, VV in second (22.2%) and LDK in third (21.5%).
Hibrid.info has researched through the online search engine "Google", also for the alleged survey that appears in the second image, searching with the keywords "latest poll for the elections in Kosovo”And“PDK: 28.2%, VV: 27.01%, LDK: 24.5%, AAK: 13.9 and other entities with 6.39%". However, the results do not show such a survey.
Hibrid.info has also checked the website of the company that allegedly conducted the survey in question, "Global Survey on Sustainability and the SDGs", where no data was found for Kosovo.
About surveys
The latest poll (December 17) that was circulated in the media was from the company "UBO Consulting", which explained that the survey on political parties was conducted by the OMNIBUS service.
The data from this survey presents different percentages than those presented by the aforementioned TikTok accounts. (see photo below).
Hibrid.info has once again addressed the alleged survey in the first image, while the second image was treated in two cases (see here and here).
Analyze:
The alleged polls, which show PDK as the first, are unreliable and manipulated.
The latest survey was by the company "UBO Consulting", which explained that the survey for political parties was conducted by the OMNIBUS service.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the content as "Fraud" and "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The “Deception” rating is given to informational content that is manipulated in terms of visual (deepfake, cheapfake), audio, or textual content to deceive the audience. This form of deception is usually used to produce false and manipulated content.
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.