At the beginning of January 2023, pages on "Facebook" and various Albanian media wrote about the alleged death of the well-known Albanian actor, Mirush Kabashi.
However, the news was denied by Mirush Kabashi himself, saying that the false news about his death continues to be repeated. This is the second time that the media reports on the death of Kabashi, without confirming it in advance.
"I'm alive, don't worry, at least take this worry away from people, deny a news that is being repeated, that is fake, it seems to have effects", said Kabashi.
After the actor's reaction, some online media have deleted their post, but still the news continues to be laughable in other media.
Other platforms trying to unmask the news have gained clicks by manipulating the headlines. Thus, the Facebook page "Kosova Shqiptar", on the "Facebook" account, has published the news with the title: "Icon Mirush Kabashi dies at the age of 73".
But when you click on the news, you go to the next page, "atraktivinfo.altervista.org", which has the title - "The news about the death of Mirush Kabashi was false, shame on those who misinform". Whereas, in the content, there is only the part where health is wished to the actor, without detailing the misinformation.
The misinformation that continues to be repeated in other online media has prompted other reactions.
"Earlier, the news about the death of actor Mirush Kabashi was published, while his daughter denied this news saying that her father is in good health. The worst thing is that this is not the first time that such news has been published about Kabashi", says one of the reactions on "Facebook".
Photographs of some of the pages on "Facebook" that have falsely reported about his death are also attached to the reaction.
"Keep your head up, Mirush Kabashi, because the big dust is being carried behind your majesty! You will live a long time", is another reaction.
At the beginning of June 2021, the same thing happened, where some of the media reported on the possible death of Mirush Kabashi, but then deleted the news.
*This article is published as part of the Western Balkans Regional Initiative against disinformation. “Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Hub: exposing malign influences through watchdog journalism.”
