Tag: kosovo

Social Media Disinformation Spreads Panic About Kosovo-Serbia ‘War’

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

While Kosovo Serb barricades blocking roads to two border crossing points to the border with Serbia are being removed, disinformation about the conflict is spreading on social media and several media platforms worldwide.

Kosovo is currently trending on Twitter with over 250,000 tweets.

Twitter users, mainly from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Spain, Serbia, Kosovo, and Albania, are all sharing disinformation of an alleged “war” that has broken out between Kosovo and Serbia or sharing propaganda against Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, declared in 2008.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko’s tweets on Sunday received thousands of likes, retweets, and comments after he wrote: “Ukraine is ready to act with our troops on the ground. Serbia is trying to start an aggressive war.”

In fact, the NATO-led peace-keeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, on the grounds 1999, has declared its readiness to intervene “if stability is jeopardized in the North of Kosovo”. No Ukrainian troops are on the ground in Kosovo, however. Nor has Ukraine recognized Kosovo’s sovereignty.

James Ker-Lindsay, visiting professor at London School of Economics  LSE who focuses on conflict, peace and security in South East Europe, condemned Goncharenko’s tweet, asking him not to “make matters worse”.

“This is an irresponsible and unnecessary comment. And it also raises all sorts of complex questions that I’m not sure Ukraine is ready to answer. If you really believe in peace, don’t become part of the problem in the Balkans. Focus on home” Ker-Lindsay wrote.

Kosovo Serbs erected barricades consisting of trucks filled with gravel blocked roads to two border crossing points with Serbia before being removed on Monday.

They were erected after Kosovo’s government moved to implement so-called reciprocity measures with Serbia over vehicle licence plates and IDs for one month, before agreeing to delay the measures if the barricades are removed.

“Crossing points in Jarinje and Bernjak remain closed,” PM Albin Kurti told media on Monday, adding “all border points are issuing the [new] 90-day exit-entrance document. Up to 1,501 citizens have been provided with this document, waiting 20 seconds”.

The Kosovo government decided in June that every person wanting to cross the state border using personal IDs issued by Serbian authorities will now be issued temporary declaration forms valid for 90 days that replace the Serbian-issued document.

The decision reciprocates Serbian authorities’ non-recognition of Kosovo-issued IDs, introducing the same measure as Serbia implements toward Kosovo citizens.

A similar escalation occurred in September 2021, after Kosovo’s government required vehicles with Serbian licence plates to switch to temporary Kosovo-issued ones at the border. Kosovo citizens who have licence plates with the letters RKS, short for Republic of Kosovo, have had to do this for years on the border with Serbia.

Photos from last year are being shared on social media as if they happened on Sunday, On July 31, 2022. Albanian Muslim preacher Elvis Naci with 1.2 million followers on Instagram, shared a photo of Kosovo Special forces moving to the barricades closer to the border from September 2021 captioned: “God protect the Albanians of Kosovo as well as the brave men of the special unit who establish peace and security,”

Barricades in the village of Rudar, on the road to Serb-majority Kosovo municipality of Leposavic, close to the border with Serbia, August 1, 2022. Photo: Shkodrane Dakaj/BIRN

Ukrainian MP Goncharenko’s tweet was not the only one suggesting a war already broke out between Kosovo and Serbia.

Turkish writer Huseyin Hakkı Kahveci tweeted in Turkish: “War broke out between Serbia and Kosovo. FIRE STARTED IN THE troubled BALKANS”.

His tweet, which received over 200 likes and over 80 retweets, claimed that “Kosovo Special Forces sent additional troops to the Jarinje border crossing with Serbia. We are in the period when the war begins to spread to Europe via the BALKANS and to Russia via the CAUCASUS”.

Nebojsa Malic, a Bosnian Serb columnist for Anti-War site, went on Twitter to say that “NATO’s favorite stooge ‘Kosovo’ is trying to start a fight with Serbia right now,” claiming this explained how “well the conflict in Ukraine is going for the West”. His tweet received over 2,000 likes.

Alongside posts on war breaking out between Kosovo and Serbia, many social media users, as well as media platforms, shared unconfirmed information of shots fired between Kosovo and Serbian forces.

Twitter account ConflictTr, with over 200,000 followers, tweeted: “Kosovo soldiers injured in the clashes on the Serbia-Kosovo border are transferred to Mitrovica state hospital”.

Several Kosovo media such as Nacionale and Indeks Online among others reported that a Kosovo police official and two Serbian citizens had been injured by gunfire between police and the citizens that erected the barricades. This was not true. Nacionale later deleted its news.

Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla told the media on Monday that “11 citizens have been injured and received the necessary treatment and some citizens’ and police vehicles have been damaged by armed criminal structures”. Kosovo police are investigating.

However, no armed conflict has yet erupted between Kosovo Special Police and Serbian police or military forces.

Several Twitter accounts also shared “Kosovo is Serbia” claims, which are often part of Serbian nationalist discourse.

Twitter user Inga Canarias, with over 1.5 thousand followers, retweeted a photo of a mural that writes “Kosovo is Serbia” with the description in Spanish: “Since there seems to be trouble between Serbia and Kosovo, it will have to be said once again that Kosovo is an integral, inalienable part of Serbia.” Several Spanish accounts shared similar tweets.

The former US envoy under Donald Trump for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Richard Grenell, also joined the turmoil, mainly blaming Kosovo PM Albin Kurti for the situation but also sharing inaccurate information about former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci.

“Let’s be very clear, the Europeans pushed The Hague to arrest (former President) Hashim Thaci after 20 years of investigations simply because he was negotiating with (Donald) Trump,” he said.

“They have nothing on him and keep him held because of politics. It’s why ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal on Yugoslavia) should be dissolved,” Grenell said in one tweet, which received over 500 likes.

Kosovo’s Online Media Lack Resources to Combat Fake News: Report

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The Press Council of Kosovo published a report on Monday entitled Misinformation, Disinformation and Fake News in Online Media in Kosovo, which concluded that online media in the country lack the staff to deal with these issues and the money to train journalists in ethical and professional reporting.

The Press Council, a self-regulatory body which includes most of Kosovo’s media, surveyed 18 online media in Kosovo for the report, as well as interviewing media and legal experts.

“Representatives of [state] institutions should have been part of the report but they did not respond to our invitation,” said the head of the Press Council, Imer Mushkolaj.

“It is worrying that institutions ask media to be disciplined but they do not follow the procedures of complaint in cases in which they claim they have been slandered by the media,” Mushkolaj added.

The executive director of the Kosovo Association of Journalists, Getoarbe Mulliqi Boja, said that most fake news is circulated by websites published by interest groups, which are not registered as media outlets.

“Institutions increase disinformation by not giving statements to journalists who, based on the requests of the media they work at, for to get information via secondary sources,” Mulliqi Boja added.

However, the Press Council’s report concluded that there are journalists who directly cause the spread of fake news.

Qerim Ondozi, the author of the report, explained that it was concluded that many media do not follow the Press Council’s ethical code or are not aware of what it says.

Ondozi said that “confusion exists when it comes to internal regulations, when we asked about their existence we were expecting the answers to be related to the Press Council of Kosovo ethics code, however we had various answers, including ‘it is on the wall at the newsroom’”.

Seven out of 18 online media outlets that were surveyed said that they do not have written editorial policies, which increases “the difficulty of practices to identify and verify fake news”, the report says.

Six out of the 18 surveyed said they only have two editors, while at least one online media has no editors, and one has 15 editors.

The report also says that only eight out of the 18 online media have sub-editors. It says this is a source of great concern because “a sub-editor can be the one to identify the presence of elements of fake news”.

Almost half of the online media do not provide their staff with training opportunities for professional development, which is also problematic in combatting fake news, the report says.

The report’s respondents mentioned the lack of financial resources as a problem as well media organizations often being small. At around 40 per cent of the outlets, the owner is also the director.

The lack of financial resources directly influences the “lack of professional staff”, which Mushkolaj considers to be one of the main issues.

The Press Council report recommends that media increase capacities and training, use clear practices in identifying sources and facts prior to publication, and follow professional standards.

Kosovo MP’s Call for Media Controls Condemned by Unions

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

Media unions in Kosovo have criticised ruling Vetevendosje party MP Fitore Pacolli after, on Thursday, she urged the government to take measures to identify investments in the media, which, according to her, are being used for business and public blackmail.

“Recent years have seen large private investments in the media through which the possibility of interference and influence was created in some major and online media, that are being used for business purposes and political blackmail,” she claimed. 

“The Assembly and the government must … take measures and understand what is happening with the operations of the media, their transparency and their ownership,” Pacolli told the Assembly.

After making the statement, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and the Kosovo Press Council expressed serious concern.

“The open call of MP Pacolli for the direct intervention of the government to control the media is unacceptable for the AGK and the KMShK, and represents a danger to freedom of the media in the country,” their statement said.

They emphasized that any attempt by the government to exercise control over the media would be an unacceptable attempt to interfere in their work, and a serious threat by the government to the media.

Another media organization, Safe Journalists, also condemned the statement of MP Pacolli, calling talk of government control of the media a threat to freedom of expression and democracy.

“MP Pacolli’s open call for direct intervention by the government to control the media is unacceptable as it is also … a danger to freedom of speech and democracy,” it said.

After numerous similar reactions from organizations and civil society, MP Pacolli defended her statement by distributing part of the recent resolution of the European Parliament approved on July 6, 2022, which states that the media environment in Kosovo has been “distorted” in recent years.

“The media environment has been distorted in recent years, with large-scale investments leading to increased private sector influence over mainstream media and online media that are often used for commercial and political blackmail; [the resolution] reiterates the need to guarantee the transparency of the media, including media ownership,” the paragraph that Pacolli shared on Facebook said.

The code of ethics for the print media in Kosovo is a self-regulatory instrument, which the print media, including portals, must respect.

Supervision of the code for possible violations is carried out by a self-regulatory body made up of editors-in-chief and editors of the member media of this body.

The print media commission consists of the media themselves. Televisions and radio stations are regulated by the law on the independent media. The government is expected to declare its view of the statements of the Vetëvendosje MP Pacolli on July 15 at a session of the Assembly.

Kosovo Media Regulator Struggling to Recover from Cyber-Attack

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

Kosovo’s media regulatory body on Wednesday said it was subjected to a severe cyber-attack in January that has resulted in a loss of data and access to official email addresses and internal systems for almost two months.

Faruk Rexhaj, acting head of the Independent Media Commission, IMC, confirmed that many electronic services had been disabled because of the attack in January.

“We have not restored [the lost material] yet because we need to go through procurement procedures to hire an expert on restoring the servers. Procedures took some time but we are almost at the end,” Rexhaj told BIRN.

According to Rexhaj, the IMC is working to restore the system after the attack and blamed delays on the procurement procedures needed before hiring an expert to deal with the issue.

“We are in procedure to restore equipment, materials and systems to normalcy. We are working on it,” he added.

The IMC is an independent institution responsible for the regulation, management and oversight of the broadcasting frequency spectrum in Kosovo.

It licenses public and private broadcasters, establishes and implements policy and regulates broadcasting rights, obligations and responsibilities of individuals and entities who provide audio and audiovisual media services.

Rexhaj said police were informed about the attack. “We informed the police, and the Department for Cyber Crimes has taken all data they need. They have concluded that the attack was similar to some other cases and it is not related to anything specific. This kind of attack happens all over the world,” Rexhaj said.

Kosovo Albanians Join Video Campaign to Support Folk-Dancing Teacher

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

An online support campaign was launched on Monday after a Kosovo biology teacher was targeted with derogatory comments online after posting videos on TikTok of himself dancing to folk music.

Valon Canhasi, founder of social media agency Hallakate, posted a video of himself dancing to Albanian folk music at his office on Monday and urged others to follow suit to support teacher Lulzim Paci after critics claimed that his actions were inappropriate for an educator.

“I invite all of you to make a video dancing in your office or in your home,” Canhasi wrote on Facebook as he initiated a folk-dance ‘challenge’ under the hashtag #profachallenge.

Teacher Paci, from the town of Vushtrri/Vucitrn, was subjected to sustained criticism on social media after he posted several videos of his folk dances.

Among the critics was ruling Vetevendosje party MP, Fjolla Ujkani, who called on the high school director and the Vushtrri/Vucitrn Education Directorate to fire Pacik for “improper and degenerate acts”, which she claimed contravened the duty of a teacher to instill values in young people.

However Ujkani made a public apology on Monday evening in a Facebook post in which she explained that she had been a student at the high school at which Paci teaches and said “my reaction was aimed at the protection and well-being of the students, and in any case the preservation and protection of the credibility of the school”, but that she did not intend to cause harm to anyone.

In an interview with Kosovo media outlet Koha, Paci tearfully explained how the online harassment he has endured since posting the videos caused him to tell his brother to deny that they are related to avoid embarrassment, and instead to say that “[Lulzim] is my cousin”.

Supporters of Paci argued that he has the right to use his private social media accounts to publish videos of himself dancing, which do not harm anyone.

Kosovo-based media lawyer Flutura Kusari said that “freedom of expression guarantees the teacher the right to publish videos from a private environment”.

After Canhasi posted his video and launched the #profachallenge, a series of Kosovo Albanians including celebrities, politicians and teachers from various regions of the country posted videos of themselves dancing to Albanian folk songs.

Famous Kosovo singer Dafina Zeqiri responded by making a video of herself dancing with the teacher, Paci, and posting it on her TikTok account.

Actress Adriana Matoshi, known for her roles in films such as ‘Zana’ and ‘Martesa’ (‘The Marriage’), who is now an MP from the ruling Vetevendosje party, also recorded a video.

“Don’t stop dancing for anyone… You have done nothing wrong to anyone,” Matoshi wrote on Instagram.

The challenge reached Albania as well, where the first lady and leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration, LSI opposition party, Monika Kryemadhi, also posted a video of herself dancing.

Kosovo Public Broadcaster Board Sacks Director for Negligence

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The newly elected board of the Kosovo public broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo, RTK, has dismissed Ngadhnjim Kastrati as director for not performing his duties effectively and for violating RTK law.

“I received notification of my dismissal at home where I have been in isolation for several days due to COVID-19,” Kastrati announced on Facebook. “I was not notified of any dismissal procedure and nor was there an item on the agenda for my dismissal,” he added.

Kastrati was dismissed by nine votes in favour and one against. “The decision for the dismissal is based on numerous violations of the Law on RTK and other sub-legal acts in the RTK during Kastrati’s mandate. The RTK Board concluded that the general director neglected irregularities, abuses, lack of work, nepotism … and continued biased reporting by the public broadcaster,” the board said.

Last year, Kastrati was grilled about nepotistic job appointments by two parliamentary commissions that oversee RTK. Kastrati then defended the employment of family members of former president Hashim Thaci, now facing war crimes charges at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague. He said MPs should not interfere in recruitment processes.

BIRN reported on how Thaci family members were hired as a copyright experts, a camera operator and in the marketing department.

In its 2020 report on Kosovo’s progress, the European Commission said that RTK “remains vulnerable to political pressure and influence”, mainly due to being “directly state-funded, with its budget determined annually by the Assembly”.

According to the report, RTK at the time had 1,024 employees, of whom 806 were on regular contracts and the rest working part-time. Just over two-thirds of the broadcaster’s budget went on salaries, it said. The general consensus is that RTK has too many employees.

The board’s decision to dismiss Kastrati also cites a 2020 National Audit report, which identified mismanagement and unwillingness to improve and resolve RTK problems, mismanagement by RTK marketing contracts, and mismanagement of invoice contracts.

During Kastrati’s mandate, which was due to end in early 2022 anyway, there were accusations also that RTK would propagandize for certain politicians, and that there was budget misuse.

In its dismissal decision, the RTK board claimed Kastrati failed to open proper vacancy positions for the needs of RTK and had violated the law by allowing an editor-in-chief to remain in post since 2019 when the law allows only six-month terms.

The board claimed Kastrati has violated RTK’s internal Regulation on Material and Disciplinary Responsibilities by not taking “corrective measures after ascertaining violations by employees”. For example, Ridvan Berisha on January 10 confirmed via email that he had not been to work for almost a year – but continues to be paid by RTK.

Kosovo Police Seize Crypto-Mining Equipment After Govt Ban

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

In two different operations in Mitrovica South and Podujeve municipalities, Kosovo Police seized 70 items of crypto-mining equipment as part of raids following the ban on crypto-mining announced by the government last week.

In the first operation, in Mitrovica South, 67 crypto-producing machines were confiscated, Police said they identified the location in an apartment where investigators found a suspect dealing with “illegal activity”

In the second case near Podujeve, police seized three pieces of crypto-mining equipment.

“We have informed Customs officials and we will take subsequent action in coordination with them,” a police press release said.

No actual arrests, in either case, were reported.

Last week’s decision by the government to ban cryptocurrency mining, citing concerns about energy in a country with an energy crisis, has drawn questions concerning its legal basis.

The Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, announcing the ban on cryptocurrency mining, referenced emergency measures for electricity protection imposed by the government on December 24, to “restrict the energy supply, valid for a maximum of 60 days”. The government implemented power reductions on December 22 due to the serious energy crisis.

But Arber Jashari, a Kosovo-based legal expert, told BIRN: “There is not enough of a legal basis for the ban of cryptocurrency mining, considering that no special law regulates this issue.”

While the government has the legal basis to take restrictive measures on electricity, there appears to be no legal framework to ban cryptocurrency mining.

On October 2021, Kosovo announced it had drafted a law on cryptocurrency which parliament was expected to adopt by the end of the last year – but the regulation is still pending.

The chairman of parliament’s Committee on Economy, Ferat Shala, was cited as saying that most activities related to cryptocurrency were registered in northern Serb-run parts of Kosovo.

This phenomenon in the north, and associated energy costs, according to him, had pushed the committee to accelerate the drafting of a law to regulate the sector.

“The good thing about this is that all operators in this sector will know that we are working and monitoring and that at some point they will be subject to applicable law,” he was quoted as saying.

BIRN previously reported on how attics, basements, garages and even whole houses in Serb-majority northern Kosovo were being rented out for cryptomining, mainly because for 22 years, northern Kosovo has paid nothing for electricity, the vital component of crytomining.

One local crypto-miner told Reuters on condition of anonymity that “he was paying around 170 euros per month for electricity, and getting around 2,400 euros per month in profit from mining”.

EU Observers Say Kosovo Voters Misled by ‘Opaque’ Facebook Pages

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The EU Election Observation Mission said on Tuesday that non-transparent Facebook pages were responsible for “manipulative interference” in Sunday’s mayoral election run-off contests, spreading misinformation about rival parties and candidates, although the polls were well-organised.

“While candidates shared useful information through online platforms, opaque Facebook pages were used to spread misleading content hampering the voters’ ability to form opinions free from manipulative interference,” the Election Observation Mission said in a preliminary assessment of the conduct of the vote.

“Candidates generally used advertisements to promote their campaign platforms but third-party ads were largely used to discredit contestants, including with personal accusations,” the statement added.

The head of the mission, Lucas Mandl, who is member of the European Parliament, told media in Pristina that in general, the run-off elections were “well administered and competitive”.

“The campaign was vivid and peaceful, though its tone was harsher compared to the first round. However, in the absence of sanctions for campaigning outside of the official five-day period, most candidates were canvassing long before the official campaign kicked off,” Mandl said.

The preliminary statement also said that blatant lack of transparency related to the financing of contestants’ campaigns persisted in the second round.

“Perpetuating the low enforcement of campaign finance rules, the Kosovo Assembly is unable to guarantee timely audit of the disclosure reports and the CEC [Central Election Commission] did not sufficiently support the implementation of applicable regulations,” the statement said.

The EU mission said that in the absence of sanctions for campaigning outside of the official five-day period, “most candidates were canvassing long before the official campaign kicked off”.

“Candidate rallies were attended by leaders of the major parties, including by Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his ministers while LVV [ruling Vetevendosje party] candidates often portrayed themselves as the guarantors of projects financed from the central budget. Moreover, between the two rounds, the government announced a temporary increase of social benefits which led to opposition’s accusations of indirect vote buying,” it said.

Voters in 21 out of 38 municipalities went to the polls to elect new mayors in a run-off vote which was held four weeks after 17 mayors were elected in the first round.

The election result produced a disappointment for Vetevendosje, which won only four of the 12 municipalities in which it was competing, and lost in the capital Pristina.

Belgrade-backed Serb party Srpska Lista won the most number of municipalities (ten) followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (nine), the Democratic League of Kosovo (seven), the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (five) and the Social Democratic Initiative Nisma (one).

Kosovo Urged to Start Countering Russian Media Disinformation

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

A report published on Tuesday by the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development, KIPRED, about the potential for Russian media disinformation to undermine Kosovo’s statehood urges the authorities to address UN member states with an appropriate strategy to counter it.

The executive director of the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development, Lulzim Peci, told a press conference that the authorities are doing nothing to counter what he called the “Russian diplomatic war against Kosovo”.

“The reactions of Kosovo’s institutions have come without a proper policy on how to act towards Russia and the same institutions have not built any narrative about the Russian state,” Peci said.

The report, entitled ‘Kosovo Observatory: Russian Diplomatic War and Media Disinformation’, analysed statements, press conferences, articles and other documents from Russia that were published from June 1 to August 15 this year.

Peci said the report calculated that “out of 500 news articles that directly or indirectly related to Kosovo, 96 or 19.2 per cent of them contained misinformation”.

According to the report, the largest number of articles containing misinformation were published by Sputnik Serbia (71 items), followed by TASS (nine), Russia Today (four), UNZ (four), Sputnik International (three), Russian Insider (two), The Duran (two) and Newsfront (one).

The report concludes that Russia is trying to undermine Kosovo’s statehood and Western engagement in Kosovo and the region, and to change the narratives about war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, thus undermining the foundations of international justice.

Russian media articles have also accused Kosovo of oppressing local Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church, and of disrespecting an agreement to establishing an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities.

The report warns that a critical moment has come at the end of a moratorium agreed in Washington for Kosovo not to actively seek membership of international organisations and for Serbia not to campaign against Kosovo’s recognition.

“This moment can be used by Russia to work together with Serbia to implement an aggressive campaign for the derecognition of Kosovo,” the report says.

Kosovo Court Orders Detention for Media Commission Duo for Bribery

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

A court in Kosovo has ordered 30 days of detention for the head of Independent Media Commission, IMC, Luan Latifi, and its Director of Finances, Arben Bilalli, a day after they were arrested in Pristina on bribery suspicions.

The Pristina Basic Court on Thursday said there was grounded suspicion that both Bilalli and Latifi have been involved in a graft affair.

The IMC is an independent institution responsible for the regulation, management and oversight of the broadcasting frequency spectrum in Kosovo.

It licenses public and private broadcasters, establishes and implements policy and regulates broadcasting rights, obligations and responsibilities of individuals and entities who provide audio and audiovisual media services.

The board of the IMC held two meetings on Thursday after the arrests. “After the review [of the situation created] the Board has requested an interpretation from the IMC’s legal department on how to further proceed in line with legal obligations,” it said. “The IMC once again expresses its readiness to provide full cooperation with justice institutions in order to help investigations until the end,” it added.

Arben Bilalli, Director of Finances at the IMC, was arrested first on Wednesday. Prosecution documents obtained by BIRN say he was caught red-handed in an undercover police operation.

The documents say Bilalli and Latifi met a private business’s representatives three times to negotiate a fine the IMC had imposed on the entity.

According to the dossier, Bilalli accepted 8,000 euros from business owners but was not aware that the money belonged to the police and was used to simulate the action. The prosecution says that after he received the money, Bilalli was in constant contact with his boss Latifi.

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