Kosovo’s 2025 parliamentary election campaign was marred by unprecedented hate speech and disinformation from local and foreign actors, raising concerns about the integrity of future elections unless significant action is taken, a new BIRN report, launched on Wednesday, concluded.

Kreshnik Gashi, editor-in-chief of BIRN and Internews Kosova’s co-publication KALLXO.com, said one of the issues identified was the “usage of Russian techniques, also known as techniques of dehumanising in elections – a trend on the rise in the recent years, which unfortunately was used in the last elections in Kosovo”.

As examples, he noted how political opponents were routinely compared to animals or branded as “mentally incompetent” or “Serbian spies”.

The report, “Hate Speech and Disinformation During the 2025 Election in Kosovo”, produced with the support of the European Union Office in Kosovo, monitored 20 television and radio stations, including two Belgrade-based and two Tirana-based media outlets, as well as reviewing over 4,000 online publications, examining the prevalence of hate speech and disinformation.

Many media provided a platform for unverified, sensationalist and spurious allegations that often went unchallenged, the report concluded.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, in a speech at the launch of the report, said: “Without the truth we cannot have a genuine democracy. Without truth, our decision making becomes uncertain, trust among citizens and institutions weakens and above all the space for disinformation and manipulation is expanded.”

The head of EU office in Kosovo, Aivo Orav, warned that “disinformation is more than a deceptive context, it is a direct threat to democracy”.

During a panel discussion, Brikenda Rexhepi, editor-in-chief of local Kosovo media outlet Koha, said a positive point is that Kosovo continues to have freedom of speech, adding: “Although certain media reported in favour of particular political parties, there were also media which reported accurately.”

The February 9 elections were conducted in a peaceful and competitive manner and saw a slight increase in the number of seats held by women in parliament.

But the campaign was accompanied by hate speech, disinformation and divisive narratives, in some cases using Artificial Intelligence, AI, and disproportionately targeting women.

Kosovo’s Election Complaints and Appeals Panel, ECAP, found political parties responsible for 30 incidents of hate speech in the campaign.

However, as Gashi explained on Wednesday, this did not result in the removal of the offending content from the parties’ or specific politicians’ websites and digital platforms. “On election day alone [February 9], fact-checkers identified at least 100 cases of disinformation,” Gashi recalled.

The report found that during the election campaign, local and foreign actors, mainly in Serbia and Russia, increased disinformation related to inter-ethnic violence and a possible Serbia-Kosovo war.

Russia, in particular, pushed a narrative that incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti was planning the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Serbs with the support of the West. Moscow also amplified Serbia’s attacks on Kosovo Serbs who chose to run against the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party.

BIRN concluded that the authorities are currently unable to tackle disinformation and so safeguard the right of voters to make a free and informed choice when picking their elected representatives.

The report recommends empowering electoral and media oversight bodies to tackle hate speech. It calls also for regulation of the use of AI and improved transparency on campaign spending.