Rama Addresses Protest at the UN: A Narrative About an ‘Israeli Occupation’ of the Albanian Coast Was Fabricated

Speaking about the danger of Artificial Intelligence, Prime Minister Edi Rama also addressed the protests in Tirana, referring to an image spread on social networks. “It showed a barbed-wire fence and a sign presenting the Zvërnec area as a border between Albania and Israel, accompanied by the flags of the two countries,” he said.

Rama said that on this image a false narrative was built about an “Israeli occupation” of the Albanian coast, which according to him spread online and fueled protests against a “ghost”. “I’m sure you have followed the flamingo revolution, a fabricated narrative about the Israeli occupation of the Albanian coast, an occupation that never happened, but this was fabricated and conveyed through voices, pages and channels. Citizens have already believed it. One citizen got a story of national betrayal, another of religious provocation, another of a foreign invasion. Different fabrications were fed into different emotional worlds and they all served the strategic lie. The consequences were real. Citizens had reasons to protest, but they suddenly found themselves protesting against a ghost. Fear became anger, anger became mobilization and fabrication became reality. It was not an experiment, I’m not talking to you about a film. It was a Tuesday in Tirana. The algorithm did not invent the target, a human actor did. This is systematic deception. Election interference no longer requires a public TV or propaganda addressing an entire population. It can now influence the will of each voter,” Rama said.