A significant portion of the information consumed by the citizens of Kosovo is produced by media outlets that do not disclose the origin of their funding, and verifying their actual sources of revenue is nearly impossible, which leaves a gap in transparency.
Beyond Kosovo’s position as a target of Russian propaganda, the country is also exposed to the economic influence of China, even though the two countries do not maintain diplomatic relations.
Data provided to BIRN by the Kosovo Customs show that 13 percent of all imports into Kosovo in 2025 came from China. In practical terms, every seventh product entering the country originates there.
In 2025, imports from China exceeded 919 million euros, out of a total of 7 billion euros in overall imports, an increase of 9.4 percent compared to 2024 when Kosovo’s imports from China amounted to 840 million euros, out of 6.4 billion in total imports.
The trend of imports from China shows steady growth over time; In 2020 there were 617 million in imports, while in 2023, 788 million in imports that Kosovo had.
China remains one of Kosovo’s top trading partners in terms of imports. Mobile phones, industrial equipment, solar panels, furniture, plastics, toys, and car parts dominate the domestic market.
The import profile is largely industrial, technological, and construction-related.
A report published on January 12, 2026 by the local think tank, GAP Institute states that in 2025 Kosovo’s largest import partner was Germany, with goods worth 1 billion euros. Turkey ranked second with 929 million euros, followed closely by China with around 920 million euros.
The report also notes that China has consistently been among top exporters in Kosovo in 2024, 2023, and 2022.
While goods are accurately recorded at customs, another dimension of China’s presence remains invisible: the marketing and media content that may be indirectly financed through the trade chain.
Advertising money: the unseen dimension
Logos of some messaging and social media applications. Photo: EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
In terms of the economy, where there is a market, there is promotion. But how much of this promotion is transparent and how much blends into editorial content? This remains a major question.
“No one in Kosovo has data on how much businesses that import from China advertise in our media. If China is such a large exporter to Kosovo, logically they should also invest in promoting their products,” said Kreshnik Gashi, editor-in-chief of Kallxo.com, when appearing on the Kallxo Përnime TV Programme.
Russian and Chinese investments across the region have increased significantly in recent years, and economic investment is often accompanied by media influence.
In February 2026, the Fushe Kosova press Facebook profile, which has nearly 20 thousand followers, shared a video with the description: “Look at how intelligent vehicles look in China.” The attached video showed people close car doors by only waving at them. The main purpose of this page, however, as evidenced by its name, is to inform citizens about local news in the municipality.
On July 24, 2025, Autoportali published an article titled: “Electric cars are the best-selling vehicles in China: What is the recipe for their success?” In the article, statistics were provided regarding the sales and purchase of electric vehicles in China.
Meanwhile, in a closed Facebook group, “Grupi i miqësisë Shqipëri–Kinë,” (Friendship Albania-China) an analysis titled “Chinese cars are changing history” was posted on September 16, 2023. The video was republished by Radio Ejani.
Available data indicate that in parts of the Western Balkans, salaries, equipment, television studios, and other operational costs for certain media outlets are financed through sources that are not publicly disclosed.
In a statement for BIRN, Imer Mushkolaj, Director of the Kosovo Press Council, noted that, “Members of the Kosovo Press Council are obliged to be transparent about any sponsored content, namely commercial advertising, from anyone and from anywhere.”
He added that this issue is regulated by the Code of Ethics of the Print Media of Kosovo which states: “Commercial and political advertising, as well as sponsored material,including articles and supplements, must be clearly distinguished from editorial content and identified as such.”
“In sponsored material, the source of the sponsorship must be clearly indicated,” Mushkolaj further noted.
“Media financing reports contain incomplete data,” stated Niman Racaj, Acting CEO of the Independent Media Commission.
According to him, declared funding primarily falls into the following categories: commercial audiovisual communications, donations, and public funding (as in the case of Radio Television of Kosovo).
However, the regulator only verifies the existence of funds in bank accounts, not their origin. “Without financial sustainability, there is no editorial independence,” Racaj emphasised.
Kosovo has public and private television stations, dozens of cable operators, and hundreds of online portals. Yet the total advertising market is estimated at around 15 million per year: “far too small to sustainably finance the entire media landscape,” stated Jeton Mehmeti, former chairman of the board of the Independent Media Council.
Meanwhile, Gashi noted that “If financial intelligence has not yet identified any suspicious Chinese money entering Kosovo’s media to retransmit their narrative as news, that is a problem for me”.
Rebroadcasting content
Illustration: ICM
In Albania, Radio Ejani, which has 1.1 million followers on its official Facebook Page, operates as a Chinese state media outlet producing content in Albanian. There is no transparency regarding its funding or how it may be distributed to other media outlets that rebroadcast its materials.
Most of the content shared in this media outlet presents an economically developed China, its good relations with Albania, and content that, according to experts, can be labelled as ‘a soft disinformation’ which tries to profile China as a better alternative than the EU.
BIRN report “The story of our lies” published in 2023 found that materials published in Radio Ejani had been shared and rebroadcasted in Kosovo as well.
However, it remains unclear whether such rebroadcasting is paid for or simply based on informal content-sharing arrangements.
BIRN attempted to obtain a statement from Radio Ejani by phone and email, but received no response.
Based on monitoring the posts on the Radio Ejani page, their content is mostly positive news about China and its economy, while in certain cases they also report on criminal incidents that occur in other countries, which was also empasised in ‘The story of our lies’ BIRN report.
On February 26, 2026, Radio Ejani shared an article on their Facebook page with the headline: “9 billion yuan in revenue! Chinese films record high ticket sales worldwide.”
On the same date, another news item was posted on the Facebook page with the headline: “German businesses attach great importance to the Chinese market and hope to further deepen cooperation with China to achieve mutual benefits and shared development.”
Meanwhile, in a post from December 2025, a special acknowledgement was given to a young man from Albania, Ergys Turja, who lives in Shenzhen and found “a job and a new direction in life.”
Radio Ejani also features dedicated programs on the economy, including “Economic Realities,” where various guests are invited for discussions. Another program, titled “Far Yet Close,” highlights the closeness between China and Albania through different stories.
When it comes to advertising money, cybersecurity expert Benjamin Kolenovic explains that authorities can only track bank transactions within Kosovo’s territory. If bank accounts are registered abroad, institutions have no access.
“Anything that happens outside Kosovo, through bank accounts registered abroad, is inaccessible to the state under normal circumstances. In normal conditions, no social network provides API access to governments, with the exception of major governments such as the United States or China (in the case of TikTok),” Kolenovic said.
“I have come across Chinese portals that specifically target Kosovo,” he added.
Kolenovic noted that some media are registered abroad so that publishers can benefit from monetisation.
“If you look at local media, most list their primary location as Switzerland, Germany, and so on, because monetisation is allowed there. In Kosovo, we have a problem with monetisation on Meta Platforms. All that is needed is a ‘virtual machine’ to access that other computer, and the work is effectively done there.”
This makes tracing the real source of income even more difficult.
An article highlighting the success of Chinese technology, global investments, or China’s “development model” may appear to be standard reporting, but without transparency regarding funding, or commercial motives.
Officially, direct Chinese investments in Kosovo remain low. However, economic influence through trade is significant and steadily increasing.
In this situation Kosovo faces a paradox: China’s economic influence is substantial, measurable, and growing, while the potential media influence is undocumented and unmeasured.
