Exposing fake news requires a lot of resources and a lot of time, and the most difficult thing is to ensure their continuity, according to Ana Marija Ivković, a journalist who has been dealing with debunking fake news and other types of media manipulations in the last few years as part of several initiatives. As an editor of the portal Alternativna and part of the editorial staff of Kontakt Plus radio, Ivković was extremely analytical and thoroughly engaged in the study of the placement of fake news in the media and on social networks through which communities in Kosovo are informed, within the columns Demasking and Netačno.
In the podcast of Radio Mitrovica North, Ivković points out that for the long-term effects of this type of engagement, stable financial and human resources are needed that ensure uninterrupted continuity and what is equally important - training that will involve training journalists to recognize manipulation through modern technologies because an increasingly common and increasingly abused domain.
"There is so much fake news and so many virtual places that misinform the public, that at the beginning I wondered if it was all worth doing. Over time, I realized that it is important, especially in crisis situations", says Ivković.
She did not give up and thanks to that, today we can safely consider some of the conclusions she reached through this work.
Sources of (dis)information: Telegram for the Serbian community, Twitter for the Albanian community; trusting social media is crazy
It was challenging to find out which sources of (dis)information are used by communities in Kosovo.
On the one hand, the hot point of disinformation for the Serbian public is Telegram channels. When it comes to the Albanian community, it's platform X, the recent Twitter.
"Telegram channels are very popular and unfortunately they are trusted a lot. I say unfortunately because it has happened many times that they spread misinformation, and on the other hand, for the Albanian community it is Twitter. Now there are also networks of Twitter accounts, which very obviously attack activists, attack people from both the Serbian and Albanian communities who are critical of the Kosovo government," Ivković points out.
The public, according to the interviewee's experience Radio Mitrovica North she often knows how to go from extreme to extreme - she will either blindly believe everything that is placed in the media space or, on the other hand, she is so skeptical that she does not even believe texts that debunk fake news.
"These are such extremes, but it is not strange, because there is a huge mistrust, not only in the media, but also in institutions and in political representatives. The climate in our societies (since we are talking about two societies in Kosovo - Albanian and Serbian) is such that the media is not trusted and distrust in the media is encouraged, and at the same time it encourages trust in, say, social networks, which is completely insane, because on social networks nothing is controlled and anyone can publish anything", warns Ivković.
He believes that initiatives that deal with disinformation and its suppression should include social networks in their focus because they have become equally important in informing the community, as the media.
In particular, Ivković warns against Tik Tok accounts that deal with disinformation and cites as an example certain profiles that take videos of armed conflicts from some other parts of the world and publish them with titles that say that these conflicts are taking place in the north of Kosovo. Such announcements reach up to a million accounts on Tik Tok.
Objective debunking without ethnic premeditation is the only right thing
Speaking about initiatives dealing with debunking fake news, Ivković says that within such initiatives that exist in both the Serbian and Albanian communities, the work must be approached objectively, and that the target of debunking must be fake news that misinforms and harms all communities, not only to the one to whom the initiative belongs.
"I often say this in front of my Albanian colleagues... These initiatives also exist in their community, but as a rule, they do not deal with debunking disinformation concerning the Serbian community and disinformation published in media that are considered objective".
He notes that initiatives to debunk fake news in the Albanian community are very happy to deal with the terminology used by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija or Srpska lista, but do not deal with events.
"It is fine to deal with it at the level of terminology, but then they should also deal with what the Kosovo authorities communicate to the Serbian community. If we are going to essentially deal with debunking, then we should also deal with events", says Ivković and adds that it is more pleasant not to deal with misinformation spread by reputable media due to possible threats and revenge.
And they themselves were exposed to threats and taunts.
"It happened that we received a threatening message because of debunking news about the north, where they call us traitors, and then on the other hand, when we deal with the Albanian media, they call us pro-Russian and pro-Serbian propaganda."
The expansion of fake news in the Albanian media concerning the fragile security situation is especially evident after the conflict in Banjska. Since then, almost on a daily basis, it is possible to come across texts announcing alleged new terrorist attacks, which, as Ivković points out, came from political representatives.
In particular, December 2023 stands out, when the media only multiplied the statements of certain political representatives, and, as Ivković says, no one really dealt with how much truth there was in it.
"The question arises of how big these newsrooms are, who works in them, because it's not all about the existence of evil intent. Sometimes it is about a young journalist without experience", the interviewee points out Radio Mitrovica North.
Local media, with the seriousness of the topics and professionalism, have long surpassed the local character
He points out that the local media reporting in the Serbian language are extremely responsible and considerate, but emphasizes that due to the socio-political weight of the topics they deal with, they have long outgrown the local character.
"We have incidents here that go beyond the local. Banjska may have been a conflict of a local character geographically, but it goes far beyond the local".
Returning to the topic of the so-called fake news seekers, Ivković points out that it is very important for them to be up to date with modern technologies, which, quite expectedly, have become a tool for deceiving the public, especially those inclined to information through video content and photos.
"Now it is possible to manipulate audio and video recordings, so that an ordinary citizen cannot recognize it. I remember the alleged conversation between the American ambassador and the Kosovo prime minister from last year, which turned out to be artificial intelligence. It was obvious to me, but people shared it among themselves with the thought that it was a true conversation", warns Ivković about another tool that is becoming a dangerous tool for disinformation.
Advice for users of social networks and other modern information channels is - activate the red light as soon as you see a bombastic headline.
"Rethink yourself - who could be behind it and what is their goal. Those are the key questions. And of course, there are media that are recognized as misinforming and people should not take them seriously. Avoid bombastic headlines and question even reputable media. They can also miss, if not intentionally false information, at least a mistake. Simply, don't believe everything you see, that would be my key message", says Ivković.
