A college wrestling match at the Las Vegas Invitational ignited debate after a controversial out-of-bounds body slam left one competitor in visible pain while the other walked away with what witnesses described as a smirk.
Ukrainian media recently circulated a sensational story claiming that Albania’s AI Minister, Diella, had been caught taking a Bitcoin bribe and taken offline. The story spread across outlets such as Glavkom, Channel 5, InfoResist, Bukvy and others. None of these publications included any note that the story originated from satire.
The entire claim is fake. It comes directly from the Croatian humor site Newsbar, a portal that openly describes itself as a publisher of fictional humorous content. The satirical article said:
“Minister Diella, responsible for public procurement and transparency, is suspected of receiving a bribe of 14 Bitcoin (approximately 1.3 million euros) in exchange for ‘algorithmic optimization’ of a tender for the construction of motorways.”
The piece also claimed the AI concluded through machine learning that accepting a bribe was “standard operating protocol” in the Balkans rather than a criminal offense.
Newsbar’s own disclaimer makes the nature of the content unmistakable. The site states it is a “satirical and humorous portal” and highlights that all news on the platform is fictional and created solely for satire. Its authors warn that real people may appear in its stories only as characters in invented events. Everything attributed to them whether statements or actions is entirely imaginary.
A quick look at the website reinforces the point. Newsbar’s front page includes absurd headlines claiming that former U.S. president Donald Trump received a FIFA award as Europe’s top scorer and that Greta Thunberg would be handed over to Vladimir Putin alongside Donetsk and Luhansk as part of a peace agreement. The pattern is obvious to anyone familiar with satirical media.
As of this writing Bukvy has already removed its article about the AI minister’s corruption case. Many other Ukrainian outlets still have the false story online.
The real background is far less dramatic. Albania became the first country in the world to appoint an AI official. Diella is not a human minister overseeing technology. She is a virtual administrator built from code and pixels functioning through artificial intelligence. Her role focuses on modernizing public procurement and increasing transparency which stands in stark contrast to the fabricated accusations.