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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Politics & government fact checks

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

12,745 published reviews in this topic

Factcrescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

A Video Of Weeping Niger Finance Minister Because The Junta Threatened To Kill Him!

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim says a circulating video shows Niger’s finance minister weeping because the junta threatened to execute him unless he accounted for the country’s wealth. Factcrescendo’s review examined that specific video and reports that the social-media caption alleged the minister had been given 48 hours to account for the country’s wealth or face execution by firing squad. The review concludes the video does not show the finance minister in that situation. The investigation used the Invid-We Verify tool to examine the video and traced it to a different person and an earlier event. According to the review, the footage shows Marou Amadou, Niger’s former minister of justice, crying after his appointment as ambassador to Ethiopia while paying tribute to his former president. The review says the video had been shared in December 2021, well before the 2023 coup-related claim. The review identifies Ahmat Jidoud as Niger’s finance minister at the time and says a comparison of physical appearances confirmed the person in the video was not Jidoud. Its conclusion is that the video depicts the former justice minister, not the finance minister, and is unrelated to the junta’s takeover. The review’s evidence therefore contradicts both the identification of the person in the footage and the claim about the circumstances in which it was recorded.

dpaPolitics & government

Das ist eine echter Beitrag von Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock.

Publisher’s rating: Der Tweet stammt von einem gefälschten Account, der sich selbst als «Parodie» bezeichnet. Auch das Auswärtige Amt weist darauf hin, dass es nicht der echte Account der Ministerin ist.

The claim concerns a screenshot of a purported tweet by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock about Green Party colleague Ricarda Lang. The post says Lang can withstand online abuse and predicts the party will regain support in polls. The review identifies the account visible in the screenshot as “@baerbockpress,” rather than relying on the cropped display name and Baerbock profile photo.