The TikTok account "lumjanana009" published yesterday (March 24) a short video (7 seconds) with the image of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Alabin Kurti, with the caption "15 million for the albino's head."
This video footage is accompanied by an audio message that says "the Russian mercenary group Wagner has placed a $15 million bounty for the murder."
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the audio was taken from a chronicle prepared by the Albanian medium "TopChannel".
In this video material published by this medium, it is revealed that the Russian mercenary group "Wagner" had set a reward of 15 million dollars for the murder of the Italian Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, who blamed the private army for the wave of immigration in Italy.
Link to the video material published on TikTok by the account "lumjanana009":
This video material published by the "lumjanana009" account on TikTok has managed to accumulate over 10 thousand views as of the preparation of this article. (see photo below)
After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has managed to find the authentic video material published on Youtube on March 18 by the official television channel "TopChannel", in which it is clarified that the Russian Wagner Group has placed this reward for the assassination of the Italian Minister of Defense. (see here)
This account had made the same claim a few days earlier (March 21), but that post had the caption "15 MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE KILLING OF KURT". Hibrid.info has also covered that video material. (see here)
The aforementioned account has interfered with this audio, cutting out the information that made it clear that the news is about the Italian Minister of Defense, and replacing it with the image of Kosovo's Prime Minister, Albin Kurti.
Analyze:
After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the video material published by the "lumjanana009" account on TikTok is edited.
The author has cut parts of the audio material, removing information that makes it clear that the news is about the Italian defense minister, while inserting a photograph of Kosovo's Prime Minister, Albin Kurti.
In addition, the video material is also captioned "15 million for the albino's head".
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the claim in this video as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.