Prepared by: Festim Rizanaj
Over the past week, fake news has dominated the misinformation ecosphere.
Fake news has been posted on TikTok with several unfounded claims regarding political and social issues in Kosovo. An account called “mentor.g.me” claims to have published the results of a poll on political parties ahead of the February 9 elections, where the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is leading with 38%. Another post from the account “_albinkurti” claims that the opposition has taken the issue of placing the flag in northern institutions to the Constitutional Court, but this claim is unfounded. Another profile, “arsimtoverlani”, states that from January cars up to 20 years old can be customs cleared, but hibrid.info has confirmed that the law only allows those up to 10 years old.
A manipulation of facts has been published on Facebook by the account “Investiguesi Shkrimor”, claiming that the US is preparing to accept Russia’s conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, based on a publication by “Bloomberg” (October 21). According to hibrid.info, this claim is based on an opinion published in “Bloomberg”, which does not represent the official position of the medium.
A disinformation/clickbait was published on the official “NTV Televizione” YouTube channel on October 22, with the title “KOSOVO JOINS THE COE”, claiming that Kosovo has joined the Council of Europe. After verification, hibrid.info discovered that the material contains general chronicles regarding Kosovo, but does not provide any facts that prove its membership in the CoE, thus presenting the information as false and misleading.
Several clickbait headlines have been published by Albanian-language media and websites, misinforming about the location of the events. On October 22, “kosova-sot.info” published the news “First case of new variant of monkeypox recorded”, but only within the article does it specify that the case is in Germany. Also, on October 25, news about the withdrawal of Coca Cola products from the market circulated on several Facebook pages, implying that the incident occurred in Albanian-speaking countries, while in fact the withdrawal of the products was made in Austria.
A clickbait/disinformation piece was posted on Facebook by the “NTV Televizione” page on October 22, with the title “territories are exchanged/Kosovo and Serbia find a solution”. However, the content of the video does not contain any information about an agreement or exchange of territories. According to verification by hibrid.info, the video is a compilation of chronicles related to Kosovo, without any facts supporting the claims of the title.
Several pieces of misinformation were published on October 24 and 25 on various platforms. A TikTok video, from the account “lajmifundit3”, claims to show a rebuttal by former President Hashim Thaçi to Fadil Geci’s testimony, but hibrid.info has confirmed that no such rebuttal was made. Similarly, an article by “NTV Televizione” titled “UNEXPECTED/ Kurti wants to confront Vučić… it would be important on the eve of the elections”, implies that it is a statement by Kurti, but in fact presents an opinion by Milan Niç from the German Council on Foreign Relations, which is not mentioned in the title.
Manipulation of facts
A content is published that claims that according to the media company, “Bloomberg”, the United States of America (USA) “is preparing to betray Ukraine and accept Russia’s conditions by concluding an agreement to end the war”. This claim was made through a status published (October 21) by an account named “Investiguesi Shkrimor”. Hibrid.info has found that the claim is based on an opinion published in “Bloomberg”, which does not reflect the position of the medium where it was published. (here)
Fake news
A TikTok post claims to have conducted a poll on political parties in Kosovo ahead of the February 9 parliamentary elections. “People’s referendum, latest poll” is the caption placed over an image that lists the four current parliamentary parties in a list that purports to be the poll results. The post was made by the TikTok account “mentor.g.me” on Monday (October 21). In the photo, which purports to be the results of a poll, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) comes out on top with 38 percent, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 22 percent, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) with 15 percent and the Self-Determination Movement (LVV) with 10 percent. Hibrid.info used the online search engine “google.com” to research the purported poll. After using the keywords “latest poll for the elections in Kosovo” and “PDK 38%, LDK 22%, AAK 15% and LVV 10%” no results based on credible media or organizations that deal with polls have appeared. (here)
A claim has been published on a TikTok profile with the title “Latest news: Opposition sends flag-raising to the Constitutional Court”. Although it is not specified, based on the image used in this claim, it is understood that it is about the flag-raising at the facilities of Kosovo institutions in the north of the country. This claim was published (September 9) through an image on TikTok, by an account with the name “_albinkurti”. The findings of hibrid.info show that in fact the opposition in our country has not sent such a matter to the Constitutional Court. (here)
A claim has been published that from January 1, old cars up to 20 years old will be able to be cleared through customs. The claim came via a caption on an image (here), published on TikTok by an account named “arsimtoverlani”. Hibrid.info has found that the current law does not allow the import of cars older than ten years. (here)
Misinformation/Clickbait
A video material has been published, the cover of which is the inscription “KOSOVO JOINS THE COE”. The video claiming that Kosovo has joined the Council of Europe (CoE) was published (October 22) on the official channel of the Albanian-language media outlet “NTV Televizione” on YouTube. Hibrid.info’s searches have not found any facts that confirm the claim. Given that the claim is written in the present tense of the indicative mood (see here), Hibrid.info assesses that the information has been published as a true fact. After verifying the content, it was found that the video material contains several television chronicles with news and events related to Kosovo, but that none of them contains any announcement indicating that Kosovo has joined the CoE. (here)
Clickbait
An article titled “First case of new variant of monkeypox recorded”. The news (here) was published (October 22) by the Albanian language medium “kosova-sot.info”. The location of the news is disclosed only in the introduction of the article when it is stated that “The first case of new variant of monkeypox has been recorded in Germany…”. (here)
Several articles have reported on the recall of a portion of the well-known beverage company “Coca Cola”. “Coca Cola is withdrawing its product from the market, bad news for those of you who have been drinking it these days, here’s what was found inside” is the caption placed on a photo of a Coca Cola bottle, which was published on several Facebook pages on October 25. Hibrid.info has verified the articles published by these Facebook pages and found that it is stated that the company Coca Cola HBC Austria has announced the recall of a quantity of bottles from the market in Austria. However, because the country is not indicated in the content published on Facebook, and the publication was made by a page with content in the Albanian language, there may be room for misinformation that the event did not occur in Albanian-speaking countries. (here)
Clickbait/Disinformation
Through the title of a video published on Facebook, it is claimed that “territories are exchanged/ Kosovo and Serbia find a solution”. The publication was made on October 22 by the “NTV Televizione” Facebook page. The title does not match the content of the material. After verifying the content, it was found that the almost 8-minute video material contains several television chronicles with news and events related to Kosovo, but that none of them contains any announcement indicating exchanges of territories or that Kosovo and Serbia have found a solution. Also, hibrid.info’s searches on the online search engine “google” have not found facts that confirm the claims in the “NTV Televizione” title. (here)
disinformation
A video has been published, showing part of a speech by former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi, who is in custody in The Hague, and which speech is alleged to be a response to the testimony of witness Fadil Geci. This content was found and published on TikTok by an account named “lajmifundit3”, which posted this video (October 24). Hibrid.info has found that after the testimony of witness Geci, there was no response from former President Thaçi. (here)
An article titled “UNEXPECTED/ Kurti would face Vučić… would be important on the eve of the elections” is published. This content, which displays the image of Albin Kurti, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, was published today (October 25) on the website of the medium “NTV Televizione”. Hibrid.info has found that the information provided in the title represents a claim by Milan Niç from the German Council on Foreign Relations, which is not clarified in the title of this text. (here)