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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.

12,751 published reviews in this topic

Factcrescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

SJB and JVP to make an interim government under the premiership of Karu Jayasuriya

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerned a purported agreement by Sri Lanka’s SJB and JVP to form an interim government led by former speaker Karu Jayasuriya. The circulated WhatsApp message said the parties had reached the agreement at a meeting at the President’s House and described a temporary premiership and a short-term government. The review checked whether that alleged meeting and agreement had been reported and contacted the media units of both parties. The review found no mainstream-media report confirming the claimed meeting. More decisively, both parties’ media units denied that such a meeting involving them had taken place and rejected the claim that they were joining to form a coalition under Jayasuriya. The review therefore found no basis for presenting the viral message as an agreement between the two parties. The claim also blurred separate political positions. The review reported that SJB leader Sajith Premadasa and JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake had each indicated willingness to take the prime-ministerial role and form an interim government if President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned. It separately reported that Jayasuriya’s media secretary said neither party had asked him to become prime minister. That distinction matters: the reported individual positions and Jayasuriya’s separate willingness to serve did not establish the alleged joint agreement.

FACTLYPolitics & government

నారా చంద్రబాబు నాయుడుని కూర్చోపెట్టి మాట్లాడిన ఎన్‌సీపీ అధినేత శరద్‌ పవార్‌, వైఎస్ జగన్‌మోహన్‌ రెడ్డిని మాత్రం నిల్చోపెట్టి మాట్లాడినట్టు వీడియోలో చూడవచ్చు

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

dpaPolitics & government

Der "stern" nannte Wolodymyr Selenskyj vor einem Jahr "König der Lügen"

Publisher’s rating: Der Screenshot des Covers ist eine Fälschung. Die «stern»-Ausgabe mit Wolodymyr Selenskyj auf dem Titel erschien am 10. März 2022 mit der Unterzeile «Held der Freiheit».

The claim concerned a Facebook screenshot presenting a stern cover with Zelenskyy and the headline “King of Lies,” alongside the assertion that the magazine had described him that way a year earlier. The review identifies the question it checked as whether stern had actually published that cover a year before: “Ist der «stern» tatsächlich vor einem Jahr mit diesem Cover erschienen?” The review reports that the relevant stern cover appeared on 10 March 2022, not a year earlier, and described Zelenskyy as “Hero of Freedom.” It says the authentic issue and its subtitle could be found in stern’s online shop, and that the cover was also shown in an Übermedien interview about media and war. On that evidence, the screenshot circulating on Facebook with the different headline was manipulated.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ සිය පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් සමඟ හෙලිකොප්ටරයකින් ඉන්දියාවට පියාසර කළාද?

Publisher’s rating: Explainer

The review examines social-media claims that former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family had flown to India in a helicopter sent from India. These claims circulated on May 10, 2022, amid wider rumors that Rajapaksa and his family were trying to leave Sri Lanka. The review also notes that videos were shared as showing people believed to be family members escaping by helicopter, but the excerpt does not establish that those videos showed Rajapaksa or his family. The most direct evidence presented is a public denial from the Indian High Commission in Colombo. It said reports that political figures and their families had fled to India were false and baseless, and the review reproduces the mission’s May 10 post saying it “strongly denies” them. This denial directly contradicts the central claim of a flight to India, though the excerpt does not provide flight records or identify the people in the circulated videos. The review also reports that Namal Rajapaksa told AFP on May 10 that Mahinda Rajapaksa was in a safe place and was not planning to leave the country. Separately, Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne, said on May 11 that Mahinda Rajapaksa had been taken to the Trincomalee naval base for security reasons. Taken together, the cited statements point to his presence in Sri Lanka, not a helicopter flight to India with his family.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Recent video of Ashok Gehlot acknowledging the rising Hindutva atmosphere in Rajasthan

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post presented footage of Ashok Gehlot discussing Hindutva in Rajasthan as recent, amid communal riots in Karauli and Jodhpur. FACTLY examined the clip’s timing and setting and reports that it was recorded in 2021, when Gehlot was speaking virtually to mark the NSUI’s 51st Foundation Day—not during the later riots. The claimed remarks were real, but the footage was recirculated with a misleading impression of when it was made. In the speech, Gehlot contrasted BJP and RSS Hindutva ideology with the Congress principles of democracy, secularism and socialism. He referred to the Hindutva atmosphere and expressed concern about whether people would vote for Congress, while urging party workers to campaign. FACTLY says contemporaneous 2021 news reports attributed similar remarks to him and that its review of the full speech located the relevant passage at 27:01. FACTLY distinguishes the old speech from Gehlot’s later response to the Jodhpur violence: it says he accused the BJP of inciting communal tensions and appealed for peace, rather than making a new statement expressing fear about Hindutva’s spread in Rajasthan. Thus the footage documents remarks made in 2021, not a recent acknowledgment connected to the riots.

RMIT ABC Fact CheckPolitics & government

"This government has moved to gag debate more than any other government in history — more than 340 divisions across the life of the parliament."

Publisher’s rating: Exaggerated

Helen Haines, the independent member for Indi, made the statement while disputing an Australian newspaper’s account of how often she voted with Labor. She argued that the figures included procedural votes on gagging debate, a practice she said she normally opposed. The fact-check examined whether the Coalition had shut down more parliamentary debates than any earlier government, while noting that Haines’s wording referred both to a government and to a parliament. [S1: “Ms Haines was responding to an article published in The Australian newspaper that suggested she had voted with Labor almost 68 per cent of the time over the last parliamentary term.”; “In her claim, Ms Haines spoke of ‘any other government in history’ but then also referred to the ‘life of the parliament’.”] The investigation used calendar-year data on successful gag motions, which it said was the only readily accessible data covering the full historical period. Because calendar years do not align neatly with governments or parliaments, the fact-check assigned each year to whichever government or parliament accounted for most of that year’s sittings. It also counted successful motions only, not failed attempts. On that basis, the Coalition led by Scott Morrison recorded 332 successful closure motions from 2019 to 2022, more than the previous 1974–75 record of 301. But cumulative totals are affected by how long a government or parliament lasts. [S1: “The only readily accessible information on gag motions in parliament is available by calendar year, which is an imperfect measure for Ms Haines's claim as it doesn't line up neatly with governments.”; “In the four years from 2019 to 2022 there were 332 successful closure motions.”; “The previous record was set by Mr Whitlam from 1974 to 1975 when 301 successful closure motions were moved.”] The review therefore compared averages as well as totals. It found the highest average for both a parliament and a government’s time in office belonged to Labor under Gough Whitlam; the Morrison-era parliament ranked second among parliaments. For government terms, the Whitlam government averaged 135 successful closure motions a year, followed by Malcolm Fraser’s Coalition government at 88 and the Coalition governments from 2013 at 77. These results explain why the largest cumulative total does not establish that the current government used the procedure most frequently over a comparable period. [S1: “This analysis shows that since 1901 the highest (imperfect) average for a parliament and the highest (imperfect) average for a government's term in office were both recorded by Labor under Mr Whitlam.”; “The Coalition government under Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Mr Morrison ranks third with 77 closure motions per year agreed to on average throughout their term of government.”]

FACTLYPolitics & government

Video of Arvind Kejriwal saying that the corruption of AAP should continue

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a clip presented as Arvind Kejriwal saying that AAP’s corruption should continue. FACTLY says the clip came from a speech at a program organised by the Lokmat Media Group and reports finding the corresponding speech in a video streamed live by AAP on 08 May 2022. The review locates the shared clip at 1:25:02 in that video. Its explanation turns on the words immediately surrounding the quoted phrase, not on a dispute about whether Kejriwal said those words. In the fuller passage, Kejriwal contrasts economists’ criticism of “freebie culture” with what he says is their failure to write about the harms of corruption. The phrase “Corruption should continue (according to them)” is presented as sarcasm aimed at those economists, rather than as his endorsement of continuing corruption. FACTLY further quotes him saying that he had ended corruption and that money previously going to leaders’ and officers’ pockets was being distributed as public benefits. The review therefore says the clip removes context that changes how the remark is understood. The investigation describes searching with keywords after observing the Lokmat logo in the shared clip, then matching the clip to the AAP-streamed speech and identifying it in the longer video. It also points to the Lokmat YouTube channel as another place where the speech can be seen, and quotes a separate passage from The Week describing Kejriwal’s argument that stopping corruption freed money for public welfare. These details support the review’s account of the clip’s source and context; they do not establish the broader truth of every claim in the speech.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ඇතුළු පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් අද (10) හොර රහසේ රටින් පිට වන ඡායාරූපයක් ද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim presented a helicopter photograph as showing former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and family secretly leaving Sri Lanka on the 10th. The review says the image circulated with that implication and reports that viewers inferred it showed the group leaving the country: “මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සිය පවුලේ පිරිස සමඟින් හෙලිකොප්ටරයකට නැගී අද (10) දිනයේ පිටත්වන අයුරු බව හඟවමින් ඡායාරූපයක් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ ඡායාරූප සටහන් හුවමාරු වුණා.” To check the image’s date, the review says it conducted a reverse-image search. It identified the photograph as one taken on 9 January 2015, when Rajapaksa boarded a Sri Lankan Air Force Mi-17 helicopter to fly to Tangalle after losing the presidential election. The review also says media reports identified his sons Namal, Yoshitha and Rohitha as accompanying him: “මෙම ඡායාරූපය අද(10) දිනයේ ලබා ගත් ඡායාරූපයක් නොව, 2015 වර්ෂයේදී ජනවාරි 09 වන දා ලබා ගත් ඡායාරූපයකි. ඒ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, 2015 ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණයෙන් පරාජය වීමත් සමග, තංගල්ල බලා පියාසර කිරීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාවට අයත් එම්අයි 17 හෙලිකොප්ටරයකට ගොඩ වූ අවස්ථාවේ ලබා ගත් ඡායාරූපයකි.” Thus, the photograph does not establish that the family was leaving the country on the 10th: it depicts an earlier departure for Tangalle in 2015. The review qualifies its conclusion, saying it established that the image was old, not whether Rajapaksa was attempting to leave the country at the time the claim circulated: “අපගේ මෙම විමර්ශනයෙන් පෙන්වා දෙනු ලබන්නේ, ඉහත ඡායාරූපය පැරණි ඡායාරූපයක් බව පමණකි.”

FACTLYPolitics & government

Raghuram Rajan is appointed as the Governor of Bank of England

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned whether Raghuram Rajan had been appointed Governor of the Bank of England. FACTLY’s review says Andrew Bailey held the office: he was announced as governor on 20 December 2019 and began his term on 16 March 2020. Those dates provide a specific account of who was appointed and when, contradicting the post’s assertion that Rajan received the appointment. The review also addresses reports that Rajan was considered for the role in 2019. It says he reportedly denied in a BBC interview that he had applied, explaining that central banking had become more political. Being discussed as a possible candidate is not the same as being appointed; the review’s account of his reported response does not support the post’s claim. As additional biographical context, the review identifies Rajan as the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, serving from September 2013 to September 2016. It concludes that he had not been appointed Governor of the Bank of England. The excerpt describes the findings but does not specify a separate verification procedure beyond the stated appointment chronology, the Bank of England’s list of past governors, and the reported BBC interview.