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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

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Australia’s original name originated from Asthralaya

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim examined is that Australia was originally called “Asthralaya.” FACTLY says it checked the claim using official government sources and found no evidence that Australia was once known by that name. Its account of the National Library of Australia’s explanation instead traces the name to “Terra Australis Incognita,” a term used for the southern land; it translates that phrase as “unknown southern land” and says *Australis* is Latin for “Southern.” The review identifies Matthew Flinders as the first person to suggest “Australia” for the continent, on a hand-drawn map in 1804. It also quotes his explanation that he would have changed the original term to “Australia” because it sounded more agreeable and resembled the names of other major landmasses. According to the review’s account, Governor Macquarie was the first to use “Australia” after receiving Flinders’s book, and by the end of the 1820s the continent was commonly called Australia. The review also reports finding a story attributing the Asthralaya claim to spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who was said to have linked that name to the Mahabharatha period and translated it as “armoury.” It says it found no mention of Asthralaya in the official Australian government sources it consulted. The excerpt’s final sentence says the name originated from Latin *auster*, meaning “southern wind,” whereas its earlier account attributes the name to *Australis*, meaning “Southern”; the review does not explain this difference.

Fact Crescendo CambodiaCulture & entertainment

អ្នក​ប្រើ​ប្រាស់​ហ្វេស​ប៊ុក​ម្នាក់​ បាន​បង្ហោះ​រូប​មួយ​សន្លឹក​ ចូល​ទៅ​ក្នុង​ក្រុម​ហ្វេស​ប៊ុក​ឈ្មោះ​ថា​ «Hang Meas HD TV»។​ រូប​ថត​នេះ​ បាន​បង្ហាញ​តារា​ចម្រៀង​ស្រី​កូរ៉េ​ ដែល​ត្រូវ​បាន​គេ​ស្គាល់​ថា​ ជា​សមាជិក​មួយ​រូប​​របស់ក្រុម​ Black Pink គឺ​កញ្ញា​ Jennie ក្នុង​ឈុត​សម្លៀក​បំពាក់​ប្រពៃណី​ខ្មែរ​។​

Publisher’s rating: Altered

dpaCulture & entertainment

Video toont hoe Koningin Elizabeth II Afrikaanse kindjes voert als waren het dieren.

Publisher’s rating: De video werd rond de vorige eeuwwisseling opgenomen in Vietnam. De vrouw kan dus onmogelijk de recent overleden koningin Elizabeth II zijn. Zij werd geboren in 1926.

The claim concerns footage circulated after Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022. It was presented as showing the Queen throwing food to African children. The investigation says the video instead shows a woman throwing coins to Vietnamese children, and that the woman is not Elizabeth II. The review’s account of the footage’s date is decisive: it says the recording was made around 1899 or 1900, before Elizabeth was born in 1926. To examine the footage, the fact-checker used a reverse image search to locate a clearer version on YouTube. That version showed details obscured in the blurry clip, including Asian writing beside a doorway. The review uses those visual details, along with the video’s provenance, to place the scene in French Indochina, which included present-day Vietnam. It identifies the women in white as Blanche Richel, wife of French Indochina’s governor Paul Doumer, and their daughter. The clearer footage also changes the interpretation of what is being thrown: the review says it is coins, not food. It notes that the children do not put the objects in their mouths, which the fact-checker cites as consistent with coins rather than food. The combination of the recording’s period, location, and identified people contradicts the claim that the video depicts Elizabeth II feeding African children.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Photos showing empty theatre at the screening of Brahmastra movie

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined social-media posts presenting photos of sparsely occupied theatres as pictures from screenings of Brahmastra. It investigated the two photos described in the original claim and used reverse image searches to trace where they had appeared previously. The review reports that the first photo had appeared in a Deccan Herald article from 17 October 2020, before Brahmastra’s release on 9 September 2022. Deccan Herald’s description placed the scene at Carnival Cinemas in GIP Mall, Noida, during the reopening period amid the coronavirus pandemic. The review also found the same photo on the PTI website, with a description identifying the date as 16 October 2020. (S1) For the second photo, the review found an earlier publication on Cityseeker, credited to “Wikimedia 2009 Beatrice Murch,” and traced it to a Flickr page for Wikimania 2009. That page, published on 25 August 2009, described the image as “Richard in an empty theatre.” The review says the description of the photo’s Wikimedia Commons licensing information places it at the Teatro Presidente Alvear in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and credits photographer Beatrice Murch. (S1) These histories place both claimed images years before the film’s release and identify settings unrelated to its screenings. The review therefore concludes that the images do not show empty theatres screening Brahmastra. (S1)