PeakMetrics / Fact Checks
Politics & government fact checks
Explore claims publishers have checked about politics & government. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.
Search fact checks
Search by text or image12,749 published reviews in this topic
Wolodimir Selenskyi und seine Familie haben die britische Staatsbürgerschaft und zwei Milliarden Dollar auf dem Konto.
Publisher’s rating: Für diese Behauptungen gibt es keinerlei Belege - und stattdessen deutliche Hinweise darauf, dass sie falsch sind.
The claim combined two allegations: that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his family had British citizenship, and that he had two billion dollars in assets. The review traces the citizenship allegation to a Telegram post by pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Ilja Kiwa in late April 2022. Kiwa said British prime minister Boris Johnson had granted citizenship to Zelenskyy and his family. The review reports that it found no evidence for the citizenship claim. It also describes a direct check: London government representatives, who were not identified by name, responded to a dpa inquiry that the allegation was false, calling it “fake news.” The review therefore presents the citizenship claim not as an established change of status, but as an unsupported allegation contradicted by the response it obtained. For the money claim, the review compares the two-billion-dollar figure with estimates and disclosed income. It says Forbes Ukraine valued Zelenskyy’s total wealth at 20 million dollars, while Forbes in the United States estimated less than 30 million. It also reports that his latest officially disclosed income was for 2020: slightly over 11,000 dollars as president, and nearly 700,000 dollars including other declared income. These figures do not support the claimed billions. The review notes an unresolved connection to offshore companies, but says it is extremely unlikely this could have increased his capital to a billion-dollar amount.
Obama is de kleinzoon van Hitler; Merkel, May en Grybauskaite zijn dochters van Hitler.
Publisher’s rating: Barack Obama is niet de kleinzoon van Hitler. Ook zijn Angela Merkel, Theresa May en Dalia Grybauskaite niet zijn dochters. De gedeelde video is een compilatie van ongeloofwaardige en al lang onkrachtte samenzweringstheorieën.
The review examined a video of nearly four minutes that asserted several politicians were descended from Adolf Hitler. It focused on the claim that Barack Obama was Hitler’s grandson and that Angela Merkel, Theresa May and Dalia Grybauskaite were his daughters. The article says the video combined those allegations with other conspiracy theories, including claims about Hitler’s survival and ancestry. [S1: “De video duurt bijna vier minuten en in deze wordt de ene wilde theorie na de andere gelanceerd, die grofweg in drie thema's uiteenvallen: a) Moderne politici (Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Theresa May en Dalia Grybauskaite) zijn afstammelingen van Adolf Hitler”] The central family-story premise was contradicted by the dates and biographical details reported in the review. It states that Hitler and Eva Braun died by suicide on 30 April 1945 and had no children. The video’s account instead placed Hitler’s supposed flight to Argentina with Braun and a daughter in 1944; the review notes that a Frenchman, Jean-Marie Loret, had claimed to be Hitler’s son by another woman, but that this was never proven. [S1: “Adolf Hitler en Eva Braun pleegden beide zelfmoord op 30 april 1945, kinderloos. De Fransman Jean-Marie Loret beweerde wel de zoon van Hitler (met een andere vrouw) te zijn. Dit is echter nooit bewezen.”] The review also checked the specific identification used to connect Obama to the story. The video said Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in 1942 and portrayed her as the daughter of Braun and Hitler. The article reports that Dunham was born in Kansas, while Obama’s grandmother Madelyne Dunham was born there in 1922 and died in 2008; Braun was born in Munich in 1912, died in 1945, had no children and never moved to the United States. It further says the video’s photographs purporting to identify Madelyne Dunham as Braun supported a fabricated rumor. [S1: “Stanley Ann Dunham, de moeder van Barack Obama. Zij werd echter geboren in Kansas, niet in Duitsland.”] [S1: “Madelyne Dunham werd in 1922 geboren in Kansas, en stierf in 2008. Eva Braun werd in 1912 geboren in München en stierf in 1945. Braun had geen kinderen en is nooit naar de VS verhuisd.”]
Video of Shashi Tharoor dancing at Congress Party’s Chintan Shivir in Udaipur
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
FACTLY examined a video circulating with the claim that Shashi Tharoor was dancing at Congress’s Chintan Shivir in Udaipur. Its review identifies the scene instead as an election campaign rally in Kerala for United Democratic Front candidate Uma Thomas, who was contesting the Thrikkakkara by-election. Tharoor was dancing with women Congress workers, according to the review; the video was not from the Udaipur gathering. [S1]
राजस्थानमधील उदयपूर येथे नुकत्याच झालेल्या काँग्रेसच्या चिंतन शिबिरानंतर काँग्रेस खासदार शशी थरूर यांचा कार्यकर्त्यांसोबत नाचतानाचा व्हिडिओ सोशल मीडियावर व्हायरल होत आहे. हा व्हिडिओ राजस्थानच्या उदयपूरमध्ये आयोजित चिंतन शिबिराचा असल्याचा दावा करण्यात जात आहे.
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim is that a video of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor dancing with party workers was filmed at the Congress Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Vishvas News’s investigation identifies the footage instead as showing Tharoor at an election-campaign event in Kochi, Kerala, for UDF candidate Uma Thomas. The review says the Women’s Congress organized the event and that Tharoor began dancing with workers at the launch of an election song. This makes the video’s claimed setting incorrect. [S1]
Lula posta foto com boneco ‘mini-Lula’ pisando na bandeira do Brasil ao lado da do PT
Publisher’s rating: Falso
Video of Sri Lankan demonstrators dumping their Ex-Minister along with his car into a lake
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
The video does show Sri Lankan demonstrators pushing a vehicle associated with former minister Johnston Fernando into Beira Lake during protests, but the review says Fernando was not inside it. The post therefore misrepresented what happened by claiming that demonstrators dumped the former minister along with his car. The review identifies the vehicle as Fernando’s backup car and places the incident amid protests over Sri Lanka’s continuing economic crisis. It also reports that the incident followed an attack by supporters of the ruling SLPP. Its key distinction is between a former minister’s vehicle being pushed into the lake and the minister himself being in that vehicle; the review says the latter was not reported.
Three government officials enjoy priority landing and takeoff in the country's airports.
Publisher’s rating: False
Tatlong opisyal ng gobyerno ang maaaring bigyan ng priority landing at takeoff sa mga paliparan ng bansa.
Publisher’s rating: Hindi totoo
אלי אבידר התנגד לחוק הלאום בכל ההצבעות
Publisher’s rating: לא נכון ברובו
The claim was made in an interview about the Nation-State Law: Eli Avידar said he had voted against it “throughout all the votes.” The investigation distinguishes votes on the original law from later proposals to repeal or amend it. It reports that the law passed its final readings on July 19, 2018, while Avידar was first sworn in as an MK on April 30, 2019. He therefore could not have voted in the original law’s legislative votes. The review says it checked the parliamentary votes and dates, and found that the law had passed before he entered the Knesset. The review then examined the narrower interpretation offered on Avידar’s behalf: that he meant votes on repeal or amendment proposals held after he became an MK. It identified two such votes. On July 15, 2020, Avידar did not participate in a proposal to repeal the law, despite being present in the Knesset and voting on measures immediately before and after it. His representatives said he abstained because his faction had decided not to support proposals from the Joint List. On July 29, he did vote for a separate amendment proposed by Yesh Atid MKs. The review’s account therefore documents one instance of support for an amendment, but also a missed opportunity to vote for repeal, rather than opposition in every relevant vote.
Bolsonaro levou Elon Musk pra comer pastel . É mito mesmo
Publisher’s rating: Falso
Can a politician who has been banned from political action resume his political activity without being lifted from the ban?
Publisher’s rating: False
Cambodian-Americans and Burmese-Americans are protesting to condemn ASEAN’s autocratic leaders at the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit.
Publisher’s rating: Missing Context
Claim: Puthiya thalamurai news card with Nirmala sitharaman statement is fake
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The review examined a viral card styled as a Puthiya Thalamurai news graphic. It attributed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman the claim that people should not worry about the rupee’s fall because they buy essentials in rupees. The review reports that a Facebook user posted the card on May 21, 2022, and that similar posts circulated elsewhere. It also notes that the graphic did not use the channel’s usual background design, which prompted the investigation. (The source describes the card’s wording as: “ரூபாயின் வீழ்ச்சி மக்களுக்கு என்ன கவலை.”)
శ్రీలంక ప్రజల చేతుల్లో దెబ్బలు తిన్న అక్కడి మంత్రుల ఫోటోలు
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
"The [government's federal integrity commission] bill has powers of search, it has powers compelling witnesses. It has powers of a royal commission."
Publisher’s rating: Cherrypicking