Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Politics & government fact checks

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

12,749 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYPolitics & government

Leaked video of BJP MP Devji Patel dancing intimately with a woman

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video circulated as leaked footage of Rajasthan BJP MP Devji Patel dancing intimately with a woman. FACTLY reports that Jalore Police said the man in the video was not Patel and described the footage as a two-year-old video. Police also announced the arrest of a person accused of sharing it while attributing it to Patel. To investigate the video’s origin, FACTLY says it conducted a reverse image search on screenshots. It found similar visuals in a Pakistan media website post dated 13 February 2020, which identified the man as Doctor Zafar Iqbal, an eye specialist in South Punjab, and described him dancing with a woman after partying in his hospital room. FACTLY also reports finding a Daily Pakistan article dated 02 February 2020 about leaked videos of Iqbal. The review says the footage was later recirculated with claims linking it to political leaders from different Indian parties. The police identification and the earlier Pakistan reporting therefore address the central question: whether this was Patel in the video. FACTLY’s account says it was older footage of Iqbal, not Patel.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Video of Union minister Nitin Gadkari saying he doesn’t care even if he loses his ministerial position after BJP dropped him from its parliamentary Board

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post linked Gadkari’s words about not worrying if he lost his ministerial position to BJP’s decision to drop him from its parliamentary Board. The review says that link leaves out the setting in which he made the remarks: he was recounting an earlier episode from his time as Maharashtra’s PWD minister, not speaking about his position following the Board decision. The review summarizes its finding: “In the original full-length video, Gadkari was narrating incidents that happened during his tenure (1995-99) as PWD minister in Maharashtra Government.” To check the clip, the review says it found an 27-minute video on Gadkari’s official YouTube channel, uploaded on 23 August 2022, and watched it to locate the viral segment. The video was from an event where he launched a book by retired IFS officer Dr. Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay. At 7:24, Gadkari begins recounting a 1996 incident concerning children who died of malnutrition in Melghat, and a conversation with Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi about the lack of roads and other services in the area. At 9:09, the review locates the quoted remarks about risking his ministerial position. In the fuller account, those remarks are part of Gadkari’s response to Joshi: he says he could handle the problem and would proceed regardless of the consequences, asking Joshi to support him if possible. The clip therefore contains Gadkari’s words, but its presentation as a reaction to his removal from BJP’s Board misrepresents what he was discussing. The review concludes that the excerpt was taken out of context.

Folha de S.PauloPolitics & government

Governo chileno adotará a política petista e fará homenagem ao ex-presidente brasileiro Lula (PT)

Publisher’s rating: É falsa a publicação que afirma que o governo chileno adotará a política petista e que fará homenagem ao ex-presidente brasileiro Lula (PT). Como verificado pelo Projeto Comprova, ao contrário do que diz o post, Gabriel Boric, presidente do Chile, não ligou para Lula e não há indícios de que ambos discutiram projetos políticos envolvendo a criação de programas semelhantes ao SUS (Sistema Único de Sáude) e ao Bolsa Família no Chile. Lula e Boric apenas manifestaram apoio mútuo no período de eleições de seus países.