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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Culture & entertainment fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about culture & entertainment. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,169 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

ជួង​របស់​​អាណាចក្រ​អង្គរ

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examines a social-media post claiming that a photograph showed a bell from the Angkor period. It describes the post as saying the bell belonged to the Angkor Empire, and says it was shared widely. The investigation’s conclusion is that the pictured bell was not an Angkor-era object but was located in Myanmar. To identify the bell, the review reports using Google Reverse Image search. It says the search led to an exact match on Alamy, where the image was identified as “The Great Bell at Mingun”; another Alamy image described it as the bell in Mingun, Myanmar. These image matches connect the photo in the claim to a named location outside Cambodia, rather than merely comparing it with other bells. The review also points to a report by Myanmar news site The Irrawaddy, dated April 29, 2020, which describes the bell’s connection to King Bodawpaya and the Mingun Pahtodawgyi. It places the bell inside the Mingun pagoda in Mingun, about 11 kilometers from Mandalay. The review’s conclusion rests on identifying the image as the Mingun Bell and locating it in Myanmar, not on evidence that the photo depicts an Angkorian object.

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

ഇന്ത്യയുടെ 75ആം സ്വതന്ത്ര ദിനത്തിന്‍റെ ആഘോഷത്തിന്‍റെ ഭാഗമായി ചരിത്രത്തില്‍ ആദ്യമായി ന്യൂ യോര്‍ക്കിലെ ടൈംസ്‌ സ്ക്വയറില്‍ ഇന്ത്യയുടെ ത്രിവര്‍ണ്ണ പതാക ഉയര്‍ത്തും

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: Folk singer and political activist Kovan still alive I பாடகர் கோவன் இறந்துவிட்டதாக புதிய தலைமுறை செய்தி வெளியிட்டதா?

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media news card, bearing the Puthiya Thalaimurai logo, that said social researcher Kovan had died suddenly of a heart attack. The review reports that the card was shared as genuine, alongside posts asserting that Kovan had died. The investigation focused on whether the news outlet had actually issued that announcement. The review says it contacted a manager in Puthiya Thalaimurai’s digital division, who said the outlet had not published such a report and that the card was fake.

Vishvas NewsCulture & entertainment

Congress workers feeding cake to Mia Khalifa

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a viral image said to show Congress workers feeding cake to Mia Khalifa, shared after her tweet supporting the farmers’ movement. Vishvas News reported that the image was manipulated: it showed a real birthday celebration, but the person pictured had been changed. The review’s conclusion was that the picture had been edited and the viral claim was false. To check the image, the review says it used Google’s reverse-image search and found an original photograph on Getty Images. Its description identifies the scene as Indian Youth Congress supporters celebrating Rahul Gandhi’s 37th birthday in front of Sonia Gandhi’s residence in New Delhi on 19 June 2007. Comparing the viral and original pictures, the review found that Rahul Gandhi’s image had been replaced with Khalifa’s. The review also contacted the photographer, Ravi Ravindran, who said he took the picture in 2007 and that the original image contained Rahul Gandhi. This supports the review’s account that the viral image was altered; the cake celebration itself was not a celebration involving Khalifa.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Picture attached in the post shows the real photo of Tipu Sultan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post compared two images and claimed that one showed Tipu Sultan, while the other was the image Congress had kept printing in Indian school textbooks. FACTLY’s review addressed the specific picture claimed to be a real photo of Tipu Sultan. It concluded that the person depicted was Tippu Tip, not Tipu Sultan, and that Tipu Sultan had died before photography existed. To identify the image, the review says it used reverse image search and found the same picture on Getty Images, where its description identified the subject as Tippu Tip, a Swahili-Zanzibari slave trader from Africa. The review then looked for news archives and found the same image on the cover of The Illustrated London News issue dated 7 December 1889. Its caption identified the subject as “Tippoo Tip, the Arab chief of the Manyewa, Upper Congo.” The chronology is another reason the claimed identification fails: the review gives Tipu Sultan’s lifetime as 1751–1799 and states that the world’s first photograph was taken in 1826. It describes the image as an artistic illustration, not a photograph of Tipu Sultan. The review also contains a 2022 update about a different image claimed to be in the British Museum; that later claim concerns a separate picture and is not the image addressed here.

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: Actor Surya not converted to Islam

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned social-media posts saying actor Surya had converted to Islam, circulated around Bakrid alongside a photograph. Fact Crescendo Tamil says this was a recurring rumor that had resurfaced with a new image: “நடிகர் சூர்யா முஸ்லீம் மதத்திற்கு மாறிவிட்டதாக, நீண்ட நாளாகவே சமூக வலைதளங்களில் வதந்தி பகிரப்பட்டு வருவது வழக்கம்.” The review’s central check was the image’s provenance, rather than evidence of a conversion. The review identifies the photograph as one taken when Surya visited Ajmer Dargah in 2019 to worship: “குறிப்பிட்ட புகைப்படம், நடிகர் சூர்யா, கடந்த 2019ம் ஆண்டில் அஜ்மீர் தர்கா சென்று வழிபட்டபோது எடுக்கப்பட்டதாகும்.” It says contemporary media coverage and photographs also showed director Sudha Kongara among those who went with him: “நடிகர் சூர்யாவுடன், இயக்குனர் சுதா கொங்காரா உள்ளிட்டோர் அப்போது சென்றிருந்ததாக, புகைப்படங்களும், செய்திகளும் காணக் கிடைத்தன.” On that basis, the review characterizes the image as old material recirculated as if it were new, and rejects the conversion claim: “எனவே, பழைய செய்தியை எடுத்து, புதியதுபோல மீண்டும் வதந்தி பரப்புகிறார்கள் என்று சந்தேகமின்றி உறுதி செய்யப்படுகிறது.” The excerpt describes the image check and references earlier reporting, but does not provide independent documentation about Surya’s religious status beyond that investigation.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Photo of a 282-Year-Old East India Trading Company Ship returning to London

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that the pictured ship was a 282-year-old East India Trading Company vessel returning to London for the first time since 1787. The review identifies it instead as Gotheborg III, a Swedish replica that sailed on the River Thames in 2007. It distinguishes the replica from the 18th-century ship that inspired it: the original was a Swedish East India Company vessel, East Indiaman Gotheborg, also called Gotheborg I. The review describes a reverse-image search that located the same photo on Shutterstock. Its caption identified the vessel as the Swedish ship Gotheborg sailing down the Thames, and credited the image to Ray Tang, with the photo dated 19 May 2007. The caption also described it as a full-scale replica of an 18th-century East India merchantman. The review says it then searched for information about the Swedish replica and found reporting about the ship’s 2007 Thames visit. The chronology contradicts the claim that the pictured vessel itself was 282 years old or had returned after being away since 1787. Gotheborg III began operating in 2005 and sailed to China that year. The original Gotheborg I had launched in 1738 and sank on 12 September 1745 after striking the Hunnebadan reef. Thus, the photo shows a modern replica on the Thames, not the original 18th-century ship returning to London.