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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.

12,749 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYPolitics & government

‘After becoming the President, my first duty will be to make this nation a Hindu nation.’ – Droupadi Murmu

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim came from a social-media post sharing what it described as a screenshot of a tweet by Droupadi Murmu. The post attributed to her a vow to make India a Hindu nation after becoming President. The review says the Hindi wording was loosely translated into the quoted English claim; it therefore concerns an alleged statement in a purported tweet, not a documented speech or policy announcement. (S1: “A social media post accompanying a purported screen shot of a tweet in the name of Droupadi Murmu is being widely shared. According to the tweet, Murmu vows to make India a Hindu Rashtra. The Hindi tweet loosely translates to ‘After becoming the President, my first duty will be to make this nation a Hindu nation.’”) The review checked the account behind the viral tweet and whether the statement was attributed to Murmu elsewhere. It reports that Murmu was not on Twitter, the account used for the viral tweet was fake and no longer existed, and the reviewer found no news reports attributing the comments to her. Those findings undermine the post’s presentation of the tweet as hers, though the excerpt does not provide a link, archive, or screenshot of the account as supporting documentation. (S1: “Droupadi Murmu is not on twitter, and the viral tweet is made from a fake account running in her name. The viral account currently doesn’t exist. Further, there are no news reports attributing these comments to Droupadi Murmu.”) The review also reports a direct check with Murmu’s personal assistant, Suraj Kumar Mahto, who told Aaj Tak that Murmu was not on Twitter and that tweets circulating in her name were fake. Taken together, the account finding and the reported denial support the conclusion that the viral attribution was false. The excerpt does not establish who created the account or independently document the search for other reporting. (S1: “Speaking to Aaj Tak, Murmu’s PA Suraj Kumar Mahto said that Murmu is not on Twitter yet and the tweets going viral in her name are fake.”)

dpaPolitics & government

Der Wiener Bürgermeister Ludwig fuhr ohne Maske Straßenbahn.

Publisher’s rating: Das Foto entstand bei der Einweihung einer neuen Straßenbahn-Garnitur in Wien. Das Fahrzeug war demnach nicht regulär in Betrieb, und es waren keine Fahrgäste anwesend.

Posts claimed that Vienna mayor Michael Ludwig had broken the rules by riding a tram without a mask. The dpa review identifies the image used in those posts as a photograph of Ludwig stepping out of a blue tram, and says the posts were often shared with a cropped image from an oe24 article. The article’s headline suggested a maskless tram ride, but its text described an inauguration. [The review says: “So soll der Wiener Bürgermeister Michael Ludwig vor ein paar Tagen gegen geltende Gesetze verstoßen haben, da er ohne Maske Straßenbahn gefahren sei. So behaupten es zumindest einige Beiträge auf Facebook (hier archiviert), die meistens ein Foto des aussteigenden Ludwigs zeigen.”] [It adds: “Der Titel des Artikels lautet zwar «Fail: Michael Ludwig ohne Maske in der Straßenbahn». Im Text wird aber erläutert, dass es sich um die Einweihung einer Straßenbahn handelte.”] The review reports that Ludwig inaugurated a special tram on 13 July 2022 with EU Commission representative Martin Selmayr and European Parliament delegation leader Angelika Winzig. It describes the vehicle as a “European solidarity tram” in a “Next Generation EU” design. The key distinction is that this was an inauguration, not a regular public service carrying passengers: the review says the tram was not in regular operation and had no passengers. [The review states: “Tatsächlich weihte Ludwig am 13. Juli 2022 gemeinsam mit EU-Kommissionsvertreter Martin Selmayr und der ÖVP-Delegationsleiterin im EU-Parlament Angelika Winzig eine «europäische Solidaritäts-Bim» ein.”] [It also states: “Der Sonderzug im «Next Generation EU»-Design sei ein Symbol, dass Europa in Krisenzeiten zusammenstehe, so Selmayr.”] The evidence therefore supports that Ludwig appeared without a mask in the tram during its inauguration, but not the posts’ implication that he took a regular public tram ride without one. The review notes that Vienna required masks on public transport at the time; its stated qualification is that the politicians would have needed FFP2 masks if the tram had been in regular service and open to the public. [The review says: “In Wien gilt derzeit in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln eine Maskenpflicht. Somit hätten die Politiker eine FFP2-Maske tragen müssen, wenn die Straßenbahn regulär in Betrieb und öffentlich zugänglich gewesen wäre.”]

FACTLYPolitics & government

World Cities Summit, 2022 is exclusively for Mayors

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned whether the World Cities Summit in Singapore in 2022 was an event only for mayors. It arose in a social-media post criticizing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s planned attendance on the ground that he was a chief minister, not a mayor. FACTLY reports that it checked the claim against the summit’s official website and attendee list, rather than treating the event’s name or its mayor-focused purpose as proof of exclusive eligibility. The review says the listed attendees included mayors as well as ministers and governors from different countries. The summit’s stated purpose also describes a broader gathering: its website called it “a convening point for global mayors, business leaders and knowledge experts” to exchange ideas about urban solutions. That wording establishes that mayors were central to the event, but also expressly includes business leaders and experts. The attendee list, as described in the review, further included officials beyond mayors. Together, these details contradict the post’s assertion of exclusivity while supporting the qualification that city leaders and mayors made up most attendees. FACTLY also points to a prior example: N. Chandrababu Naidu, then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, participated in the 2018 summit and discussed challenges in building the new capital at Amaravati. The review adds that Singapore’s government had invited Kejriwal on 1 June 2022, while his visit required clearance from the Prime Minister’s Office and approval had been delayed. This context explains the dispute over his attendance; it does not change the evidence about who the summit was for. The review’s conclusion is that the 2022 summit was not restricted to mayors, even though mayors and city leaders formed the majority of attendees.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

ජන මතයට කන්දී ඉවත්වන්න – එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයෙන් රනිල්ට බලපෑම්?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerned social-media posts saying the UN Human Rights Council had officially told then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to resign in response to public opinion, and warned him and military commanders that they could face arrest if human-rights violations continued. The review examined whether the Council had issued such a warning; it notes that Wickremesinghe was elected president by Parliament on July 20, after Gotabaya Rajapaksa left office. The posts alleged that the Council had “නිළ වශයෙන් අනතුරු හැගවීමක්” (“officially issued a warning”) to the prime minister and military commanders. (S1) The investigators first looked for reports in mainstream media and say they found none. They then contacted the UN’s communications office in Sri Lanka. According to the review, that office said the Council had not issued the alleged warning to Wickremesinghe, who was then acting president, or to the security forces’ commanders. This directly contradicts the central claim that the Council formally demanded his resignation or threatened the commanders with arrest. (S1) The review also describes UN statements about Sri Lanka that provide context but do not amount to the alleged resignation demand. It reports calls for leaders to uphold democracy and accountability, for a peaceful political transition, and for security forces to respect human rights and act with restraint. The review’s conclusion is that the claimed warning was not made, while the UN did express concerns and make broader calls concerning the situation in Sri Lanka. (S1)

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා රැට්ටා ට නැමී වැඳ නමස්කාර කරන අයුරු ද? (VIDEO)

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The claim concerns a video circulated as showing opposition leader Sajith Premadasa bowing to Ratta, also identified as Rathindu Senarathna. The review places the scene at a meeting between Premadasa and groups representing the citizens’ protest movement, held on the morning of July 18 at the opposition leader’s office in Colombo. It reports that Ratta attended. The review’s conclusion is that the circulating video was altered to make the bow appear directed at Ratta, rather than a monk at the meeting. (The source describes the claim and meeting as: “විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා රැට්ටා නොහොත් රතිඳු සේනාරත්න ට නැමී වැඳ නමස්කාර කරන බව දක්වමින් වීඩියෝ දර්ශන පෙළක්”; and “පුරවැසි අරගලය නියෝජනය කරන කණ්ඩායම් සහ විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා අතර විශේෂ හමුවක් අද (ජුලි 18 ) පෙරවරුවේ කොළඹ විපක්ෂ නායක කාර්යාලයේ දී සිදුව තිබූ බවයි.”) To check the clip, the publisher says it compared the circulated footage with original videos of the meeting supplied by Premadasa’s media secretary. It examined two camera angles and reports that the original recordings corresponded with one another. The circulated version, by contrast, appeared to be a recording of a video playing on a computer screen; the review notes that the monk visible in the background had been left out of the framing. (The review describes its comparison: “කෝණ දෙකකින් ලබාදුන් එම වීඩියෝ දර්ශන ද පරීක්ෂා කිරීමේ දී ඒවා එකිනෙකට සැසඳෙන බව”; and the apparent cropping: “ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ සිටින පසුබිම් කොටස අතහැර, කොටසක් පමණක් පටිගත කිරීම මඟින් නොමඟ යවන සුළු වීඩියෝ පටය සකසා ඇති බවත් පෙනී යනවා.”) The decisive distinction is who Premadasa is bowing to. The publisher says the original footage shows him bowing to the monk standing beside Ratta, then greeting Ratta normally. Thus, the review does not dispute that both men were present; it finds that excluding the monk from the circulated framing changed the apparent recipient of the bow. Its stated conclusion is that the clip was misleadingly recreated from a recording of the original footage. (“සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා නැමී වැඳ නමස්කාර කරන්නේ රැට්ටා ට නොව එහි සිටින ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ ට බවත් පසුව රැට්ටා ට ද සාමාන්‍ය ලෙස ආචාර කරන බවත් පෙනෙනවා.”)

dpaPolitics & government

Joachim Gauck hat gesagt: «Ich schäme mich sozusagen, ein Deutscher zu sein» und «Ich hasse und verachte das Land.»

Publisher’s rating: Wichtiger Kontext fehlt: Gauck spricht in der vollständigen Passage über sein Leben und Aufwachsen in der DDR und die Erfahrungen mit totalitären Systemen: Als er sich zu dieser Zeit mit der Geschichte der Sowjetunion und des Nationalsozialismus in Deutschland beschäftigt habe, habe er sich geschämt. Gauck formuliert zwar im Präsens, spricht jedoch über geschichtliche Zusammenhänge und zudem über Ansichten, die er in der Vergangenheit hatte.

The two quotations are Gauck’s words, but the review finds that circulating them without their surrounding passage gives a misleading impression: they can sound like comments on current political debates and the present-day Federal Republic. The interview was on ZDF’s “Markus Lanz” on 13 July 2022; the passage, around minute 53:30, concerns injustice Gauck experienced in the former GDR and his later encounter with accounts of earlier totalitarian crimes. (S1) In the fuller passage, Gauck recounts reading about what his parents’ generation had done in the Soviet Union and about crimes against Germans, German Jews and German dissidents during the Nazi era. He describes being horrified by this history and says he was ashamed to be German and hated and despised the country. The review’s central distinction is that he was speaking about his historical reckoning while growing up in the GDR, not making the present-day political statement suggested by the shortened quotations. (S1) The review also notes that Gauck used the present tense, but describes it as a way of recounting that earlier process of confronting German and European history. It says he later reflected on and developed beyond those views, connecting his experiences of injustice with his understanding of totalitarian rule. Thus, the quoted wording is authentic, while omitting the historical setting and the development Gauck describes changes how it is likely to be understood. (S1)

فکت‌نامهPolitics & government

آیا طرح صیانت، چراغ خاموش در حال اجرا است؟

Publisher’s rating: شواهد زیادی نشان می‌دهد کلیت طرح صیانت لازم الاجرا است و فقط می‌ماند رفع اختلافات در جزییات اجرایی آن. بنابراین، تفکری که پشت طرح صیانت است، در حال اجرای چراغ خاموش (و در مواردی کاملا واضح و روشن) آن است.