“Behind the scenes” report: security, social and political issues were most frequently used for misinformation

The fact-checking platform hibrid.info has published the second annual report on the state of information disruption in Kosovo.

The report, based on data collected by the platform, aims to reflect the state of information disruption in Kosovo in the period July 2023 – June 2024.

The report consists of three main parts: Reviewing and analyzing the monitoring data of the one-year period through various measurements in order to address information interference; comparing the monitoring data of the period in question with the annual preliminary data; and addressing the latest developments related to the regulation of media in Kosovo, including the latest legal changes regarding the regulation of Kosovar media, including online media.

Festim Rizanaj, researcher at “hybrid.info”, announced during the presentation of the report at a conference on Thursday that the monitoring data for information disruption showed that “clickbait” was the most frequently rated category. About 22 percent of articles were rated as “clickbait” and misinformation came in second with 21 percent rated as “disinformation.”

The report states that “clickbait” articles are mainly published and distributed in the black chronicle section and social topics that arouse readers’ curiosity to click on such publications. All articles in this category are published in Albanian.

“Disinformation” was mostly published on political and security-related topics. Most of the misinformation was published by publishers in Albanian (85%), including publishers on social networks, real and dubious media. Publishers on social media, especially Facebook and TikTok, created the most disinformation content about the Israel-Hamas conflict, followed by the events in northern Kosovo, the attack in Banjska, the explosions in the north, the war in Ukraine, the arming of security forces and others.

About 14 percent of the disinformation content observed in this period that was classified as “disinformation” was published in the Serbian language and mainly related to the north of Kosovo, to the attack in Banjska and the claims that the Kosovo Police are terrorizing the Serbs in the northern municipalities in Kosovo.

“The disinformation published by the real media in Serbian language is part of the Serbian narrative of misinforming about the developments in Kosovo without being based on the correction or verification of the facts and sources of information in order to spread disinformation about events in and around Kosovo,” says the report.

The subject area on which various publishers have produced the most misinformation content is the security area with 27%, followed by misinformation content in the social area with 23% and the political area with 22%.

The main topic of misinformation during this period (July 2023 – June 2024) was the Israel-Hamas conflict. This topic has encouraged publishers in Albanian, especially pages, accounts and media outlets active on social media, to create and disseminate mostly articles with misleading content during this period. Around 10% of the topics were published on this foreign conflict, with tragic cases in second place with 6.5% and events in northern Kosovo in third place with 6.3%. This is the first time that the north of Kosovo is not the most frequently covered topic by publishers in their disinformation content.

The institutions most talked about in the misinformation articles are Kosovo’s security institutions, such as the Kosovo Security Forces and Kosovo Police, in the context of events related to these security sector institutions in this year period. However, the most discussed personality is the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in connection with misinformation published by various publishers about developments mainly in the political and security sector in Kosovo.

The conference also discussed the state of information disruption, the role of the media and the regulation of the information ecosystem. The panelists Muhamet Hajrullahu from Telegrafi. com, Alban Zeneli from the University of Pristina, Pajtim Gashi from NDI Kosovo and Xhemajl Rexha from the Association of Journalists of Kosovo discussed the impact of propaganda narratives and disinformation in the media; the difficulties in verifying information sources and the risks associated with making the media a victim of disinformation; the media’s approach and its evolution in relation to technological trends; and improving journalistic practices and the role of media education. Meanwhile, Ardita Zejnullahu from AMPEK, Faruk Rexhaj from the Independent Media Commission and Rexha from AGK also discussed the current state of media regulation in Kosovo; challenges and possible solutions.

Finally, the report recommended that the draft law for the Independent Media Commission be reviewed; that the professional capacities of the media be strengthened; that fact-checkers intensify their activities; that the topic of media and digital education be included in primary and secondary schools and that awareness campaigns be organized to educate the population about the media.

/hibrid.info