Taulant Balla, head of the parliamentary group of the ruling Socialist Party, today published a photograph on social media from an anti-government protest in Tirana that was meant to show only a handful of demonstrators. The photograph, however, was evidently edited by artificial intelligence — it was given away by nonsensical, illegible text on one of the banners, a typical error made by AI image generators when it comes to lettering. Social media users noticed almost immediately. Balkanweb ↗
The protest that Balla tried to visually shrink was called in Tirana by the Albanian diaspora together with the opposition — according to Albanian media, it was a record turnout within the wave of anti-government demonstrations demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama over a series of corruption cases. Balkanweb ↗
One of the cases the protesters are chanting about is that of the prime minister's brother, Olsi Rama — his name appeared in an OCCRP investigation on suspicion of links to fraudulent phone call centers targeting European citizens. Opposition MP Belind Këlliçi this July also linked him to a casino license: according to his documents, a company he connects to Olsi Rama bought land on the Rodon peninsula for approximately 320,000 euros and, a few weeks later, had it revalued at nearly 26 million — exactly the amount the law requires as minimum capital for a casino operator. Exit News ↗
Balla's AI photograph is not an isolated case. In late July, the outlet Balkan Insight documented hundreds of fake social media profiles targeting protest supporters specifically — part of a broader pattern of disinformation surrounding the movement Albanians call the "flamingo revolution." Balkan Insight ↗
Albanian MP shrank a protest using AI. He was given away by nonsensical text on a banner — anti-government demonstrations against Rama continue in Tirana
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