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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

Video of Rahul Gandhi predicting violence at the protests against the Agnipath scheme

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a clipped video shared as Rahul Gandhi predicting violence at protests against the Agnipath scheme. The review says the footage instead came from his speech at the Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir meeting in Udaipur, Rajasthan, on 15 May 2022. It reports that the scheme was cleared on 14 June 2022, about a month after the speech: “The post shared a clipped video of Rahul Gandhi’s speech at the Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir meeting held in Udaipur on 15 May 2022.” To identify the footage, the review says it searched the internet using relevant keywords and found the full speech on Rahul Gandhi’s official YouTube channel. It compared the shared clip with that recording and located the matching visuals at 32:22. In the speech, Gandhi spoke of a “fire” igniting as government institutions were suppressed and conversations among states, religions, and castes ended. The review explains that these comments concerned his criticism of BJP policies, not the later Agnipath protests. The review’s chronology is central to assessing the video’s framing: it says Gandhi did not mention the Agnipath protests in the May speech, which occurred before the scheme was cleared and before protests followed its announcement. It also notes that Congress later expressed solidarity with protesters and that Gandhi made public statements opposing the scheme. Those later positions do not establish that the earlier clip predicted or referred to the protests. The evidence presented identifies the video as an older speech with a different subject, rather than footage of Gandhi forecasting violence at Agnipath demonstrations.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Photo of Afghanistan Home Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani sitting on the ground and serving his people in the country

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a particular photograph shared as showing Afghanistan’s Home Minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, sitting on the ground and serving people. FACTLY’s review identifies the man in that photograph as Mawlavi Abdul Ahad, governor of Helmand Province, rather than Haqqani. It says the photograph was taken during Abdul Ahad’s visit to Deshu district in November 2021. To investigate the image’s identity and history, the review describes a reverse image search that found a similar photo posted by a Nitter user on 9 February 2022. That post described the man as the Helmand governor interacting with civilians during a patrol. The review also found the same photograph in a collage shared by the official Helmand Department of Borders and Tribal Affairs account, which described the images as taken during Abdul Ahad’s visit to Deshu district. An Afghan journalist, Shafiq Rahimi, shared the same images with a similar description the following day. The review distinguishes the claimed photograph from a separate image of Haqqani. It reports that Haqqani visited earthquake victims in Paktika and sat on the ground to interact with one of them, but says that image is not the one circulating in the claim. The evidence therefore supports identifying the circulated photo as one of Abdul Ahad, while the separate earthquake-related image does not establish that Haqqani appears in the claimed photo.

Vera FilesPolitics & government

Sinabi ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na "ginamit niya ang kapangyrihan ng pangulo" para kalabanin ng Kongreso ang ABS-CBN broadcasting network.

Publisher’s rating: Flip-flop

Research from related reporting describes the claim as referring to Rodrigo Duterte’s actions against ABS-CBN. It reports that Duterte acknowledged using his “presidential powers” to bring about the network’s shutdown. The same account says he later asserted in a Davao speech, “Kaya tinira ko talaga sila,” while claiming the network had not paid taxes. The report supplies the relevant chronology: ABS-CBN went off the air on May 5, 2020, after the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease-and-desist order when its franchise expired. Congress rejected the network’s renewal application on July 10, 2020, by a vote of 70–11. This supports the claim’s connection between Duterte’s stated use of presidential power and the effort against ABS-CBN, but the excerpt does not independently establish how his actions affected the congressional vote.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ සාමාජිකයන් ප්‍රකාශ කළ බවට සාවද්‍ය සටහන් පෙළක්!

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review examined a series of social-media posts attributing statements to two JVP figures. One claimed that party leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said a JVP government would immediately ban recognition of Sinhala as the state language. Another presented a purported newspaper item as a statement by JVP political bureau member Sunil Handunnetthi, saying that thanking the Australian cricket team by wearing yellow was not enough to meet Sri Lanka’s challenges. The review investigated whether either statement had been reported or made as represented. For Dissanayake’s alleged statement, the review says it looked for reports in mainstream media and found none, then asked JVP media coordinator Upul Ranjan. According to the article, Ranjan said the party leader had not made the statement. For the Handunnetthi item, the review compared the circulated image with the actual Mawbima front-page story: it says the authentic item concerned fuel policy, with the headline that the president and prime minister should tell the public how fuel would be supplied, and included a warning against selling existing national assets. The review also reports that Ranjan said Handunnetthi had not made the alleged statement. The article places the yellow-clad spectators in a separate, real event: a large crowd gathered at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium on the 24th to show appreciation to Australian cricketers who had come to Sri Lanka to play a series amid the country’s crisis. Its conclusion is that the circulated posts falsely attributed both the language-policy statement and the cricket-related remark to the JVP members. Thus, the newspaper-image comparison and the party representative’s denials address the specific attributions in the posts, rather than establishing that the statements were genuine.

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

एका जुन्या चित्रात बाळासाहेब एकनाथ शिंदेंना टीका लावताना

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a black-and-white photograph circulated during Maharashtra’s political upheaval in June 2022. Posts said that it showed Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray applying tilak to Eknath Shinde and blessing him. The investigation identified the man beside Thackeray as Anand Dighe, not Shinde. “सोशल मीडियावर एक ब्लॅक अँड व्हाईट फोटो शेअर केला जात आहे. यात शिवसेनेचे संस्थापक बाळासाहेब ठाकरे एका माणसाला टिळक लावताना दिसतात.” It also records the specific claim: “फोटो शेअर करून यूजर्स दावा करत आहेत की, जुन्या फोटोमध्ये बाळासाहेब ठाकरे एकनाथ शिंदे यांना टिळक लावून आशीर्वाद देत आहेत.” To trace the image, the reviewer says it used Google reverse-image search and found the photograph in earlier coverage. A report on the website Bolly, dated 17 May 2022, included the same image; Lokmat had also published it, with a caption identifying the man with Thackeray as Dighe. The review states: “गुगल रिव्हर्स इमेजसह व्हायरल फोटो शोधताना, आम्हाला 17 मे 2022 रोजी बॉली नावाच्या वेबसाइटवर प्रकाशित झालेली बातमी आढळली. त्यात व्हायरल फोटोही अपलोड करण्यात आला आहे.” It adds that Lokmat’s caption says: “फोटो मध्ये बाळासाहेबांसोबत आनंद दिघे आहेत.” The review reports a further check: it shared the viral photo with a Shiv Sena spokesperson, who identified the pictured man as Dighe. It also explains the connection that may have made the mistaken identification seem plausible: Dighe was a prominent Thane leader, and Shinde was his disciple. The article says: “फोटोत बाळासाहेबांसोबत आनंद दिघे दिसत आहेत.” It also notes: “एकनाथ शिंदे हे आनंद दिघे यांचे शिष्य.” These details distinguish the person actually identified in the photograph from the person named in the circulating claim.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Image of TIME magazine featuring Narendra Modi with Hitler moustache

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a purported TIME magazine cover showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a Hitler moustache. FACTLY described the image as morphed and reported that no recent TIME issue had Modi on its cover. Its checks included looking at TIME’s latest front cover and consulting the magazine’s online Vault, which archives its published covers. FACTLY said it found no matching image among the latest cover material it checked, and that none of the covers listed for 2022 showed Modi with the moustache. The review also noted a separate, similar-looking artwork depicting Vladimir Putin that had circulated falsely as a TIME cover. That comparison is not evidence about the Modi image by itself; the review’s specific support for its conclusion about the claimed image comes from its checks of TIME’s cover material. FACTLY concluded that the purported Modi cover was not genuine.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

Ministers of Sri Lanka government discussing with IMF delegates!!(PHOTO)

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim attached a viral photo to discussions between Sri Lankan ministers and an IMF delegation. Factcrescendo Sri Lanka reports that the accompanying social-media message used the image to criticize officials for not bringing pens or paper to the supposed meeting. The review says it checked the image’s origin, including with a Google reverse-image search, and found that the photo was recent but unrelated to an IMF meeting. [S1: “A viral image with accompanying a text message is being spread rapidly in WhatsApp, claiming to be recent scenes of Sri Lankan officials meeting with IMF delegation.”; “First, we did a Google Reverse Image Search and noticed that while this image was recent , it had no connection with any IMF delegation.”] The review identifies the pictured gathering as a June 21 meeting at the Russian Embassy in Colombo. It says independent parliamentarians Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila and Wasudewa Nanayakkara met the Russian ambassador to discuss possible ways to obtain fuel, gas, coal and fertilizer from Russia. The article describes those participants as independent MPs, not ministers holding government positions. [S1: “The image was related with the meeting on July 21st, participated by independent parliament members, Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Wasudewa Nanayakkara etc.”; “The had met with the ambassador of the Russian Federation to discuss about current issues related to Sri Lanka and possible solutions, at the Russian Embassy in Colombo.”; “Independent parliamentarians (currently, they are not holding any ministerial positions), discussed the possibilities of agreements to source fuel, gas, coal, fertilizer etc. from the Russian Federation to Sri Lanka.”] The image’s miscaptioning does not mean there were no IMF discussions at that time. The review separately reports that an IMF staff delegation had arrived in Sri Lanka and that preliminary loan-assistance discussions were led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. It says the Prime Minister’s Office expected the delegation to stay for ten days, until June 30. That separate activity is not evidence that the Russian Embassy photo shows an IMF meeting. [S1: “However, the IMF staff delegation had in fact landed in Sri Lanka recently and a preliminary round of discussions to obtain loan assistance from the International Monetary Fund were held with Sri Lankan officials led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.”; “The Prime Minister’s Office further stated that the IMF delegation will stay in Sri Lanka for ten days, till 30th June”]