While Prime Minister Edi Rama publicly blamed social media algorithms for instigating unrest, a BIRN investigation has uncovered that hundreds of fake profiles have been activated in recent days to simultaneously spread pro-government messages and well-orchestrated campaigns against protest participants.

On July 14, the former director of the National Theatre, Hervin Çuli, brought back to the center of debate an earlier clash with the former Minister of Culture, describing it as a “fake algorithm.”

During his tenure, Çuli recounts that he was asked to share and react to posts from the Ministry and its subordinate entities on social media – a routine he described as a “daily professional sacrifice for one more like.”

According to him, former minister Elva Margariti had conveyed this directive as an order from the prime minister. The director and actor headed the National Theatre for two terms, from 2014 to 2022, but it seems the executive’s obsession with controlling the digital space remains unchanged.

“It was a very simple scheme,” Çuli explained during a phone call with BIRN. “A WhatsApp group was formed with all the directors of the Ministry of Culture, and there we would receive the activities that we had to share and then share further,” he continued, noting that the same was passed down to subordinate staff. “Posts were uploaded there, and the task was to share them and give them ‘likes’.”

Facing over 50 days of prolonged protests demanding his resignation, Prime Minister Edi Rama blamed, among other things, social media algorithms for having “poured gasoline” on the flames of popular discontent.

“The more visibility, the more power. Over whom? Over us, the slaves of algorithms,” Rama said at a meeting with Socialist MPs.

Nevertheless, data obtained by BIRN shows that precisely during these heated weeks, online platforms were flooded with a multitude of fake accounts, which simultaneously spread official propaganda and synchronized attacks against opposition supporters.

The operation of this machinery is almost identical to that used by the state administration: ready-made materials from public relations offices and memes are distributed simultaneously by a digital army disguised behind ghost identities.

According to technology specialists, this tactic serves both to fabricate the impression of broad support and to strike at opponents.

“When a large number of accounts act in a coordinated manner, algorithms read these signals as genuine interest, giving the content more visibility,” explained IT expert Besmir Semanaj.

On the other hand, the prime minister’s media office denied any link between the fake profiles and state employees.

“There is no directive or coordination from the administration on this issue; the government considers this hypothesis absurd,” a press adviser stated. Former minister Margariti also declined to comment on Hervin Çuli’s statements.

The method of mass dissemination of posts by many actors at the same time is described by academics as “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

In an article published this year in Sage Journals, researchers Richard Rogers and Nicola Righetti emphasize that the main goal of this practice is to manipulate algorithms by imitating “natural engagement.”

The phenomenon is not new at all in Albania. During the recent election campaign, hundreds of accounts ending characteristically in “.2025” were activated to comment on or attack various candidates. In the same vein, hundreds of fake identities have now been thrown into the virtual arena, but this time targeting the protest movement.

BIRN managed to uncover over 100 fake profiles on Facebook and Instagram, created between June 28 and 30. Most were located by manually tracking the prime minister’s posts and the list of people who had reshared them. These accounts do not hide their political side at all, using city names as pseudonyms and blatant links to the Socialist Party, such as “Edi Rama per Shqiperine 2030,” “kolonjasot2030,” or “Bulqiza e së Ardhmes 2030.”

Although they bear different names, these pages publish identical propaganda materials. But unlike real profiles that mainly promote the executive’s achievements, the fake ones are widely used to discredit and attack the protest and its supporters.

Particularly targeted are the leaders of small parliamentary parties, Agron Shehaj and Arlind Qorri, prominent figures in the protest, as well as internationally renowned singer Dua Lipa, who publicly supported the movement unfolding in Tirana since early June.

The posts, memes, or photomontages are often carbon copies from one profile to another. And although they may seem unobtrusive, they are by no means harmless.

MP Marjana Koçeku told BIRN that she faced a fierce wave of online denigration after announcing her distancing from the ranks of the Socialist Party due to its stance on the protests. “They were newly created profiles and the language was insulting and denigrating. I have all of it saved, it went on for days,” she recounted.

Another affected person is activist Sidorela Vatnikaj, who was targeted by massive attacks orchestrated by anonymous accounts or party militants because of her involvement in protests. “These people try to insult the individual, saying ‘you’re a Soros agent’ and things like that. Once they even mentioned my partner,” Vatnikaj says, adding that discriminatory terminology is often used with labels like “hillbilly” or “violent.”

Former public administration employees told BIRN that the majority has long used a digital apparatus maintained by a special structure, headed by a “Digital Coordinator.”

According to them, the machinery is fed raw material by the products of PR offices, and it extends to almost every link of the administration, through a hierarchical chain that was justified as transparency but was deeply controlling.

A former central administration official revealed that she had been part of those WhatsApp groups, where posts were uploaded and everything was monitored.

“Specific people were recruited for this work, girls with Chanel bags who did nothing else. Every move was verified and there was an evaluation system,” she stated under conditions of anonymity.

The same was confirmed by a former lower-level employee, who said that in those groups, posts were distributed that had to be liked and reshared compulsorily, especially during election periods.

“If someone in the group was not active enough, they would be reminded with messages like ‘you are not active’,” she added, saying that every interaction was meticulously recorded.

Former officials explained to BIRN that to identify the people involved in this digital patronage scheme, one only needs to track who regularly shares and likes the posts of a certain minister.

“They stand out because in those accounts, even though they are real, you find nothing personal, only political content,” one of them said. “It’s easier on the pages of public figures who have fewer followers,” another former official suggested.

These guidelines helped BIRN uncover more fake identities opened at the end of June, as well as a number of administration employees who spread and supported the political messages of majority representatives, including anti-protest stances.

For illustration, a post by former deputy prime minister Belinda Balluku, drawing parallels between the recent protest and the attack on the government in 1998, was reshared by a number of employees from the administration, municipalities, and state-owned companies in Fier, Patos, and Lushnjë.

Following these profiles behind which real people with first and last names hide, it becomes noticeable that they do not exclusively share propaganda, but also videos of sunset by the sea, posted by Balluku herself.

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