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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.

12,746 published reviews in this topic

dpaPolitics & government

Barack Obama déménagera au Kenya en juin.

Publisher’s rating: Barack Obama n’a pas annoncé de déménagement au Kenya. La rumeur provient d’un article qui est en réalité un poisson d’avril.

The claim concerned a rumor that Barack Obama would leave the United States for Kenya in June to serve as a U.S. diplomatic envoy. The review traces it to an article published by Kenya’s The Standard on April 1, 2023, rather than to an announcement by Obama or the U.S. government. It reports that the article’s warning identifying the story as an April Fools’ joke was not included in its earliest versions, which helps explain why some people treated the claim as genuine. To check whether there had been an actual appointment or move, the review says it looked for an announcement on Obama’s Twitter account and on the U.S. State Department’s website; it found none. It also examined the article circulated as the rumor’s source. The review reports that an April Fools’ notice appeared at the end of The Standard article, and that archived versions show this notice was added only from April 3. The evidence therefore points to a joke whose qualification was initially missing from the versions some readers encountered, not a confirmed diplomatic posting. The review also addresses claims attached to the rumor that Obama was born in Kenya or would claim Kenyan nationality. It says he was born in Hawaii and points to his birth certificate, while distinguishing his Kenyan family connection: his father was from Kenya.

Boatos.orgPolitics & government

Lula MENTIU! Ele disse que estava em Araraquara mas aparece nos vídeos de 08 de Janeiro dentro do Palácio do Planalto!

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim says Lula lied about being in Araraquara during the January 8, 2023, attacks because videos show him inside the Palácio do Planalto. The review’s explanation is that the videos show him there later that day, after he had returned to Brasília, not during the attacks. It says the chronology of the footage and Lula’s travel resolves the apparent contradiction. The review reports that a g1 article placed Lula’s arrival in Brasília at 9 p.m. and says the security-camera clock showed that same time. It contrasts this with a Poder360 report that placed Lula in Araraquara earlier, during the invasion. In other words, the footage of Lula in the palace and his presence in Araraquara are presented as events at different times, rather than conflicting accounts of where he was during the attacks. The review concludes that the videos do not establish that Lula was inside the palace when the attacks occurred. It also says investigations pointed to people sympathetic to Bolsonaro as responsible for the events, while noting that Lula’s location alone would not make him responsible even if he had been in the palace. The excerpt does not provide the underlying g1 or Poder360 articles, so those reports’ details are available here only as summarized by the review.

DoğrulaPolitics & government

Videonun Bakan Muş’un karşısındaki vatandaşı dinlemediğini gösterdiği iddiası

Publisher’s rating: Yanlış

The claim concerns footage of Trade Minister Mehmet Muş meeting a citizen during a visit in Samsun associated with his parliamentary candidacy. The review says the circulating clip was cut down and that the selected portion was used to claim Muş was occupied with his phone instead of listening. Its conclusion is based on examining the full video, rather than relying on that cropped segment alone. In the full version, the review reports, Muş listens to the citizen and takes notes; it also says he photographs those notes with his phone. The review further cites an interview with the citizen, Sabire Büyük, in which she acknowledges that Muş listened and took notes. Her criticism, as described by the review, was about his approach to the problem and proposed solutions—not that he failed to listen. Thus the cited evidence addresses the specific allegation: phone use in the cropped footage omitted the context that Muş had been taking notes.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

අවුරුදු සුබපැතුම් එක් කිරීමට දමිතා අබේරත්න, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හමුවට ගිය අවස්ථාවක් ද?

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examined a photograph circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook as showing actress Damitha Abeyaratne offering betel and New Year wishes to former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at his home. It reports that the image drew reactions from people who believed the woman was Abeyaratne, and that some websites also identified her that way. The investigation focused on the identity of the woman in that particular photograph and the circumstances in which it was taken. [S1: “සිංහල හින්දු අලුත් අවුරුද්ද නිමිත්තෙන් සුබ පැතුම් එකතුකරමින්, හිටපු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂට බුලත් දී වඳින අවස්ථාවක ඡායාරූපයක් ලෙසට හඟවමින් WhatsApp ඔස්සේ පණිවිඩයක් බොහෝ දෙනෙකු අතර සංසරණය වුණේ මෙලෙසින්.”] To check the photograph’s provenance and the woman’s identity, the review says it compared the image with a photo album of people who visited Rajapaksa’s home to offer New Year wishes. It also sought confirmation from two people connected to the image: Manoj Gamage, identified as being visible in its background, and Rajapaksa’s official photographer, who said he had taken the photographs. [S1: “ඒ අනුව මෙම ඡායාරූප අවස්ථාව, අලුත් අවුරුදු උදාව නිමිත්තෙන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට සුබ පැතුම් එක් කිරීමට ඔවුන්ගේ නිවසට පැමිණි පිරිසගේ ඡායාරූප ඇල්බම් එකතුවකින් ලබාගත් එක් ඡායාරූපයකි.”] [S1: “ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ, මෙම ඡායාරූප ගනු ලැබුවේ තමන් බවත්, එම ඡායාරූපයේ සිටින්නේ දමිතා අබේරත්න නොව නීතිඥවරියක් බවත්ය.”] The review reports that Gamage and the photographer both said the woman was not Abeyaratne. It also says Abeyaratne herself denied being in the picture and said she had not gone to meet Rajapaksa to offer New Year wishes. Taken together, the reported photo provenance and these three identifications address the claim directly: the image was from a visit by other people, and the woman shown was not Abeyaratne. [S1: “ඇය සඳහන් කළේ, ඉහත ඡායාරූපයේ සිටින්නේ තමන් නොවන බවත්, එය පැහැදිලිවම පෙනෙන බවත්, අසත්‍ය ප්‍රචාර පැතිරවීම සඳහා විවිධ යටිඅරමුණු ඔස්සේ හිතාමතා මෙවැනි අසත්‍ය ප්‍රචාර ගෙන යන බවත්, තමන් කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට අවුරුදු සුබපැතුම් එක් කිරීමට හෝ ඔහුව හමුවට නොගිය බවයි.”]