Kosovo imports mostly goods from Serbia. According to the Kosovo Customs, for the year 2021 alone, Kosovo has imported goods from Serbia worth over 305 million euros. In addition to imports, there are also certain groups that have repeatedly called for the boycott of Serbian products.
Among the biggest of them is the “DO NOT BUY SERBIAN PRODUCTS” group on Facebook. This group was opened on September 24, 2021 and so far has over 55 thousand members and is managed by businessman Burim Piraj, the owner of the meat processing and production company, "Meka Sh.p.k."
This page serves as a platform where businessmen and citizens from different fields post news related to local consumption and the boycott of the Serbian one.
But in some cases there is a tendency to misinform the public through manipulation with various statements about the group's specific goals. Thus, one of the members misinterprets a statement of the director of the Oncology Clinic at KKUK, who spoke about the most frequent forms of malignant diseases in Kosovo, but nowhere in his statement to “Telegrafi” did he mention the cause of these diseases is the consumption of Serbian products. The member in question called not to buy Serbian products "because they cause various diseases".
This shows that the doctor's statement and the citizen's call not to buy Serbian products, because they allegedly cause illness, do not match each other.
This type of misinformation causes panic among the citizens who consume those products, so news distributions in that group must be verified before being published, so that they are not misinterpreted by others.
Another example of public misinformation and disinformation is illustrated by a news story on the Facebook page KosovaLajm.net that has been widely distributed. The news is supposed to be related to the repeal of the law for the support and protection of the LGBTI community in Italy, presenting it at the same time as current news. Although the publication date is incorrect, its content is correct: the law has been repealed by the Italian parliament in October 2021.
This news was published by this page, immediately after the session held by the Assembly of Kosovo where 29 MPs voted against and 4 abstained out of 61 present. Thus, they did not approve the Draft New Civil Code, which, among other things, foresees the possibility of marriage/cohabitation of same-sex partners.
Also, in the publication of this news, a photo of the Italian parliament was presented, where it is said that the deputies expressed their "joy" after the repeal of this law. Therefore, the publication of this news is tendentious, since the current discourse on LGBTI issues in Kosovo has been used to reinforce stereotypes about the LGBTI community. Also, such news reproduces discriminatory language and incites hatred towards persons of the LGBTI community.
*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.”
