Viral videos mislead as Albania erupts against Kushner-linked luxury resort

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Viral videos mislead as Albania erupts against Kushner-linked luxury resort

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Viral videos mislead as Albania erupts against Kushner-linked luxury resort

© France 24

From the show

Truth or Fake

Reading time
2 min

Thursday marked the fourth straight day of protests in Albania, that erupted over a proposed billion-dollar luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner, married to Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Online though, false videos about the rallies are going viral, with internet users sharing dated and out of context footage misrepresented as the current demonstrations. Albanians feel the Kushner tourism plans will decimate a protected wildlife ecosystem.

Videos of a burning house racked up over a million views, falsely claiming it’s the home of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, and that it was deliberately set alight by protesters in the current demonstrations. However, text embedded on the video bore a different name: that of Enver Hoxha, the former communist chief of state who ruled Albania for 40 years. The video of the house ablaze in fact dated back to February, after protesters in an anti-government demonstration threw molotov cocktails against Hoxha’s former villa.

Another viral video claimed to show thousands in the streets protesting against Jared Kushner’s proposed project, saying Albania is “not for sale.” This footage was again dated and shared out of context, showing fans of the Spanish football club Deportivo de la Coruna after the team was promoted to the first division in  May.

As for the current demonstrations in Albania, protesters are against a massive coastal development project by a company linked to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner, is a real-estate developer as well as a Trump administration negotiator on Gaza and Iran – announced plans for his private equity firm Affinity Partners to develop a $1.6bn luxury resort in Albania in 2024, triggering questions about overlap between his business empire and political roles.

His project would include constructing hotels on the uninhabited island of Sazan, a communist-era military base, as well as in a protected wetland reserve that’s home to flamingos, seals and sea turtles. Albanians are concerned about causing irreparable damage to this ecosystem, thus using the flamingo as a symbol during the protests, referring to it as the “Flamingo Revolution.”

In an podcast interview this week, Ivanka Trump said they discovered the site by accident after stopping for a swim whilst on a friend’s boat, “captivated” by what they saw.

Albania’s prime minister though has pushed back against the demonstrations, saying the project will push forward and that it would be transformational for the former communist nation’s tourism industry, as it seeks membership in the European Union.

Albanian authorities also gave the Kushner-linked investment firm special investor status, which protesters feel is him “selling” Albanian land. The prosecutors office told news agency AFP a probe had been opened into these changes, but no further details were given.

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