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A message attributed to Arbjan Maznik has sparked political and technical debate over the authenticity of a screenshot. While Maznik calls the material fabricated with artificial intelligence, an AI engineer argues that the interference is only related to hiding the phone number…
A screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation, which is circulating widely on social networks, has sparked debate over its authenticity, turning into another political clash over the role of social networks in the tense climate between the government and protesters.
In the message circulating on the internet, a person identified as Arbjan Mazniku, a Socialist Party MP and minister in the Rama Government, is attributed with a request addressed to local structures to organize people to open profiles with fictitious identities on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, with the aim of increasing comments, likes and shares in support of the Socialist Party's narrative.
The text in the screenshot reads: "Can we please ask 1 person per municipality... open 2 Instagram accounts, 2 TikTok accounts and 2 Facebook fan pages, open them with fictitious names and surnames... be a separate group only for likes, comments and shares, but more for comments and we will fight for comments."
After the screenshot was published, Arbjan Mazniku reacted publicly by denying its authenticity. " As can be easily proven, this image is FAKE and made with AI. What tired app did you use to make this up," he wrote.
Following this reaction, screenshots from various image verification applications were shared online, which provide different results on the origin of the screenshot.
Some of them classify it as an authentic image, while others suggest that it may have been modified or generated with artificial intelligence.
Maznik's claim was disputed by Artificial Intelligence engineer Enrik Shënepremte, who argues that the screenshot was not generated by AI. According to him, the detection apps are wrong because of the way the phone number is hidden.
" As an Artificial Intelligence engineer, I feel compelled to clarify the truth about these screenshots that are circulating. The image you see is original and true, unlike what the government claims to create confusion.
The reason some AI models are classifying the image as fabricated is technical: an AI-powered editing tool was used to cover up the phone number. This process creates anomalies in the image's pixels, causing detection algorithms to misinterpret these areas as being created or manipulated by AI.
"If the part where the number is covered is isolated, the rest of the image turns out to be authentic and without interference ," he explains.
The debate is related to Rama's accusations about algorithms
The controversy over the screenshot comes at a time when the political debate has also shifted to social media.
For more than a month, the opposition and citizens have been protesting on "Dëshmorët e Kombit" Boulevard, demanding the resignation of the government. During this period, the content of the protests has been widely shared on social platforms.
Prime Minister Edi Rama has stated in several public appearances that social media algorithms favor conflictual and anti-government content, influencing public perception and amplifying criticism of the government. According to him, the way digital platform algorithms work creates a distorted reality of public debate, where polarizing content receives more attention.
On the other hand, the opposition and government critics have rejected this argument, claiming that civic discontent is not a product of algorithms, but a consequence of political and social developments in the country.
In this context, the screenshot attributed to Maznik has taken on special significance, as, if authentic, it would suggest an organization of political structures to influence the online debate through profiles with fictitious identities. Meanwhile, Maznik himself categorically denies such a thing and considers the material fabricated.
Digital forensics experts emphasize that commercial applications that claim to detect images created with artificial intelligence do not constitute definitive proof, as their results may be affected by compression, cropping, processing, or edits performed for privacy reasons.
For this reason, the authenticity of the screenshot remains a subject of public debate and cannot be considered confirmed or refuted solely on the basis of AI detection applications. /Pamphlet/
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