“Albania is Serbia,” “Kosovo is Serbia,” “Never forgive, never forget,” “No respect,” “I don’t know how someone can betray their own blood” are just some of the comments commonly seen on social media videos featuring interactions between Albanian and Serbian youth.
Although 26 years have passed since the end of the last war in Kosovo, young people continue to confront political, nationalist, and social narratives that remain deeply present in the public sphere.
Social media experts have described the prevalence of hate speech on social media as both alarming and indicative of a lack of media literacy.
According to social media expert Kaltrina Jashari, one of the key factors contributing to this phenomenon is the lack of media and intercultural education.
“Many young people are not trained to recognize propaganda, inflammatory language, stereotypes, or emotional manipulation in online content. In the absence of critical thinking skills, they often reproduce the narratives they encounter within their families, in the media, in politics, or on social networks. Current political tensions also frequently revive and reinforce old divisions. Whenever there are political developments or incidents on the ground, they are quickly reflected on social media, where offensive, nationalist, and exclusionary comments become more visible,” Jashari said.
She further noted that TikTok, in particular, contributes to the spread of hate speech because of its short-form video content.
“Social media platforms, especially TikTok, have a significant influence because they make content fast-paced, emotional, and easily shareable. TikTok operates through short videos, viral audio clips, trends, and instant reactions. This makes the platform extremely powerful for communication, but also potentially dangerous when content is provocative, offensive, or discriminatory. One specific feature of TikTok is that content is not distributed only to followers but can rapidly reach broad audiences through the ‘For You’ page. This means that even a video created by an unknown user can go viral within a matter of hours if it generates strong emotional reactions. Unfortunately, content that provokes anger, fear, nationalist pride, or conflict often receives more comments, shares, and engagement,” she explained.
For Lana Ciric, a Serbian student, many of the negative comments come from very young users.
“I believe young people continue to use hate speech online because many of them grow up surrounded by unresolved historical narratives, nationalism, and stereotypes passed down through family, media, and politics. Even if they have not personally experienced the wars, they inherit the emotions and prejudices associated with them. Social media also makes it easier to express aggressive opinions because people feel anonymous and detached from the real-life consequences of their words. In some cases, hate speech becomes a way to gain attention, likes, or approval from their online communities,” she said.
Regarding how to curb such language, Ciric argues that young people need greater education in media literacy and critical thinking.
“I believe change must happen on several levels simultaneously. Young people need more education in media literacy, empathy, and critical thinking, especially regarding the history of the region. Platforms should take hate speech more seriously and improve moderation while also promoting positive and constructive interactions. On a societal level, political leaders and public figures have a responsibility to avoid inflammatory rhetoric because young people often reflect what they see in public discourse. More opportunities for direct communication and cooperation between young people from different communities could also help reduce prejudice and humanize the ‘other side,'” she said.
Twenty-two-year-old Feim Katana believes that organizations promoting cultural tolerance should organize more intercultural activities to help change attitudes among young people.
“I think there should be clubs and organizations that do not promote hate speech between peoples. Organizations should promote cultural tolerance and engage in more intercultural activities such as visits, student exchanges, and similar initiatives,” he said.
Katana also shared that he has friends from Serbia and believes friendship can exist despite differing opinions.
“Personally, I have Serbian friends, and even though we hold different opinions, we are an example of how friendship can exist despite disagreements, without promoting hate speech. We even joke about our respective peoples, but in a spirit of friendship. Those who promote hostility, especially young people, are often individuals who have never had direct contact with one another and do not truly know each other before speaking. Older generations are not always as negative as people assume, let alone younger ones. I think it is also connected to national pride, which can sometimes be viewed as a sense of superiority and may lead to xenophobia—the fear of foreign nations and the tendency to devalue and discriminate against the national and cultural values of others,” he said.
According to Jashari, the lack of effective moderation is particularly problematic in languages that receive less support from global platform systems, such as Albanian and Serbian.
“Offensive words, local expressions, irony, historical context, and nationalist references are often not accurately understood by automated moderation systems. As a result, a large portion of harmful content is not identified or removed in time. In the case of Albanian and Serbian, the challenge is even more complex because hate speech often relies on codes, symbols, abbreviations, songs, flags, historical dates, or references that require an understanding of the local context. A global algorithm may not recognize that a particular phrase, song, or symbol is being used to provoke or dehumanize another group,” Jashari explained.
The 1998–1999 war, which ultimately led to Kosovo’s liberation from Serbia, remains the primary historical factor underlying tensions that continue to affect younger generations, who often remain bound by the historical realities and unresolved legacies between the two societies.