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

dpaPolitics & government

Deze foto toont Eugen Schwab, vader van Klaus Schwab. Hij was nazi en vertrouweling van Hitler.

Publisher’s rating: De foto toont naar alle waarschijnlijkheid de Duitse generaal Walter Dybilasz. Helemaal zeker is in ieder geval dat de foto niet Eugen Schwab toont, de vader van Klaus Schwab. Deze was ook helemaal geen vertrouweling van Hitler.

The claim concerns a photograph of a man in a German military uniform, identified online as Eugen Schwab, father of World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab. The review says the image was being used to support the allegation that Eugen Schwab was a high-ranking Nazi and a Hitler confidant. It distinguishes the identity of the person pictured from the separate allegation about Eugen Schwab’s past: “Deze foto wordt echter foutief verspreid als zijnde Eugen Schwab” and “De claim dat de vader van Klaus Schwab, Eugen, een hooggeplaatste nazi was, is ook niet nieuw.” The review reports that the pictured man was most likely German general Walter Dybilasz, and that a confirmed photograph of Eugen Schwab showed someone else. It also says an earlier dpa fact-check found that Eugen Schwab was not in the army or the SS, so he would not have worn a uniform like the one in the circulating image. The article therefore rejects the identification of the uniformed man as Eugen Schwab and says there was no basis for calling Eugen Schwab a Nazi loyalist or Hitler confidant. These points are stated in the review as: “Hieruit bleek ook dat Eugen Schwab niet in het leger zat, of de SS. Dus zo'n uniform als op de foto heeft hij niet gehad” and “Er is dan ook geen enkele aanleiding om te denken dat Eugen Schwab een overtuigde nazi of vertrouweling van Hitler was.” The identification of the uniformed man as Dybilasz is presented with qualification. The review describes the available information about him as limited and says it relied on online forum identifications and a comparison with a confirmed image of Eugen Schwab; it does not claim that Dybilasz’s identity was definitively established.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: This avadi police with saffron umbrellas picture not related with modi tamil nadu visit / மோடியை வரவேற்க தமிழ்நாடு போக்குவரத்து போலீசாருக்கு காவி நிழற்குடைகளை திமுக அரசு வழங்கியதா?

Publisher’s rating: Missing Context

The claim concerned a picture of traffic police with saffron umbrellas, which was shared as evidence that the Tamil Nadu government had provided them to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The review places the allegation around Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu on May 26, 2022, and says the image was already circulating before that visit: “மே 26, 2022 அன்றுதான் மோடி தமிழ்நாட்டிற்கு வந்தார். ஆனால், அதற்கு முன்பிருந்தே இந்த புகைப்படம் சமூக வலைதளங்களில் பகிரப்படுகிறது.” To investigate the umbrellas’ origin, the review says it enlarged the pictures and noticed names and logos including PFI Tirumala TMT Bars and Rotary Club. It then contacted Avadi Police Commissionerate. According to the review’s account of that conversation, officials said the photograph was taken at the Avadi Commissioner’s office, that a private company had donated the umbrellas, and that police stopped using them after their saffron color became controversial. The review also says the image was removed from the police department’s social-media pages. The evidence presented therefore distinguishes the donation and photograph from the claimed purpose of welcoming Modi: the review reports both that the image predated his visit and that Avadi police attributed the umbrellas to a private-company donation, not to a government provision for that visit. Its conclusion is that the photograph had no connection to Modi’s Tamil Nadu visit.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Bhagat Singh said – “Your rule is like a sponge which sucks the jewels and diamonds of Ganga and squeezes it at the Thames in England….The Mughals ruled our hearts and unlike you, they did not take India’s wealth outside.”

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video in which a speaker attributes to Bhagat Singh a speech to a British judge during his trial. The quoted passage compares British rule to a sponge taking wealth from the Ganga to the Thames and praises the Mughals for keeping wealth in India. FACTLY reports that it found no authentic evidence that Singh made these statements: “No authentic evidence attributing these statements to Bhagat Singh was found.” The review describes two checks on the attribution. It says it searched for evidence that Singh made the remarks during his trial and examined the claim that they appeared in a “Grover and Grover” book. FACTLY reports that it could not find such a book containing the statements, and that the remarks were also absent from BL Grover and Alka Mehta’s *Modern Indian History*: “Even in that book, no such statements by Bhagat Singh were found.” The review does identify a similar line about the rivers, but says the book attributes it to John Sullivan, not Singh. It quotes the line as “Our system acts very much like a sponge, drawing up all the good things from the banks of the Ganges, and squeezing them down on the banks of the Thames”. This similarity offers a possible source for part of the circulating wording, but does not substantiate the broader speech attributed to Singh. FACTLY concludes that the claim is false.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Journalist Senthilvel not compared Udhayanidhi Stalin with periyar I பெரியாரை உதயநிதி ஸ்டாலின் வடிவத்தில் பார்க்கிறேன் என்று செந்தில்வேல் கூறினாரா?

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a viral screenshot attributed to journalist Senthilvel. It purported to say that, although he had not seen Periyar in person, he had the good fortune to see Periyar wearing a khaki uniform on screen in the form of Udhayanidhi Stalin. The review says the screenshot was being circulated as a tweet by Senthilvel, and notes that a Facebook post sharing it was published on May 22, 2022. The statement was not an authentic tweet by the journalist. [S1: “ஊடகவியலாளர் செந்தில்வேல் வெளியிட்ட ட்வீடின் ஸ்கிரீன்ஷாட் என்று ஒரு புகைப்படம் பகிரப்பட்டுள்ளது. அதில், ‘பெரியார் வாழ்ந்ததை நான் பார்க்கவில்லை. இன்று திரையில் காக்கி சட்டை அணிந்த பெரியாரை மாண்புமிகு உதயநிதி ஸ்டாலின் வடிவத்தில் பார்க்கும் பாக்கியம் கிடைத்தது’ என்று இருந்தது.”; “இந்த பதிவை Rana Prathap Sing என்ற ஃபேஸ்புக் ஐடி கொண்ட நபர் 2022 மே 22ம் தேதி பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.”] To check the attribution, the review examined the account identifier shown in the screenshot. It reports that the account used the handle @Senthillvel79, with an extra “l” in the English spelling of Senthil, and identifies it as a fake account operating in Senthilvel’s name. By contrast, it gives his real Twitter handle as @Senthilvel79. [S1: “இந்த ட்வீட்டில் உள்ள ஐடியை சற்று பெரிதாக்கிப் பார்த்தபோது, செந்தில் (Senthil) என்ற ஆங்கில பெயரில் கூடுதலாக ஒரு L சேர்க்கப்பட்டிருப்பது தெரிந்தது. ‘@Senthillvel79’ என்பது செந்தில்வேல் பெயரில் செயல்படும் போலியான ட்விட்டர் பக்கம்.”; “செந்தில்வேலின் உண்மையான ட்விட்டர் பக்கம் @Senthilvel79 என்பதாகும்.”] The review further reports that the investigated post appeared on the fake account on May 20, 2022. It concludes that the screenshot’s attribution to the journalist was false: the post was issued by the impersonating account, not Senthilvel’s genuine account. [S1: “மே 20, 2022 அன்று அந்த பதிவு வெளியாகி இருப்பது தெரிந்தது. செந்தில்வேல் பெயரில் செயல்படும் போலியான ட்விட்டர் பக்கம் விஷமத்தனமாக வெளியிட்ட ட்வீட்டை, செய்தியாளர் செந்தில்தான் வெளியிட்டார் என்று நினைத்து பலரும் பகிர்ந்து வருவது உறுதியானது.”]

FACTLYPolitics & government

Modi eats mushrooms imported from Taiwan that cost Rs. 80,000 ; his clothes cost around 8-10 lakhs ; he undergoes full body checkup every day

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post makes three claims about Prime Minister Narendra Modi: that he eats Taiwanese mushrooms costing Rs. 80,000, that his clothes cost around 8–10 lakhs, and that he undergoes a full-body checkup every day. FACTLY’s review says it examined available RTI responses and reporting on these claims. It reports that Modi pays his own food and clothing expenses, so those costs are unlikely to be available in the public domain unless he discloses them; the review says it found no reports of such disclosure. That means the precise mushroom and clothing-cost figures are not established by the evidence described in the article. For the health claim, the review says it found no official information or news reports stating that Modi has a checkup every day. It contrasts that claim with a 2014 news report, which it says described a medical check-up once every three months. The evidence therefore does not support the asserted daily frequency. FACTLY’s overall conclusion is that the post’s claims are misleading: the specific food and clothing amounts are unsubstantiated, while the reported checkup interval differs from the daily claim.