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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

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

සුනඛයෙක් මෙන් ජනතාවගේ පස්සෙන් එන බවට සජිත් පැවසුවා ද ?

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The claim concerns a ticker-style post presenting Sajith Premadasa as saying, “I come after you like a dog.” The review says the post was made to look as though Hiru News had reported that statement, and notes that similar versions had circulated over several years. It investigated whether Hiru had actually shown such a ticker and what footage had been altered to create the post. [S1: “සමාජ ජාලා සටහන් ‘මා සුනකයෙක් මෙන් ඔබලාගේ පස්සෙන් එනවා’, ලෙස විපක්ෂනායකවරයා ජනතාව ඇමතූ අවස්තාවක දී ප්‍රකාශ කළ බවක් හඟවමින්, එම පුවත හිරු පුවත් මගින් වාර්තා කළ ආකාරයක් දැක්වෙන සේ”] The review reports that it checked Hiru’s 6.55 news broadcast from 18 October 2019 and traced the underlying footage to a campaign rally speech in Mihindupura grounds, Anuradhapura. In the unaltered speech, Premadasa spoke about cutting presidential privileges and facilities if elected, and going among the people to learn about their lives—not about following them like a dog. [S1: “2019 ඔක්තෝබර් 18 දින විකාශය වූ හිරු 6.55 ප්‍රවෘති ප්‍රකාශයේ”] [S1: “එහිදී සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා පවසා තිබුනේ තමන් ජනාධිපති ධූරයට පත්වූ පසු ජනාධිපති ධූරය සතු වරප්‍රසාද /පහසුකම් කප්පාදු කරන බව සහ ජනතාව අතරට පැමිණ ඔවුන්ගේ දුක සැප සොයා බලන බවයි.”] The review concludes that the circulating ticker was an edited, satirical version, rather than evidence that Premadasa made the alleged remark. It also reports that his media unit denied he had made such a statement and described the post as a false item that had circulated on social media. [S1: “විපක්ෂනායකවරයා විසින් තමන් සුනඛයෙක් ලෙස ජනතාව පසුපස එන බවක් පැවසු බව දැක්වෙන අයුරින් හුවමාරු වන්නේ උපහාසාත්මක කෝණයකින් සිදුකළ පුවත් ටිකරයක සංස්කරණයක් බවයි.”]

FACTLYPolitics & government

యోగి ఆదిత్యనాథ్ విద్యాభ్యాసం, అలవాట్లు, భారత ఆర్మీతో అతనికి ఉన్న అనుబంధం, నేపాల్ పత్రికలు యోగి ఆదిత్యనాథ్‌కు సంబంధించి ప్రచురించిన కథనాల వివరాలను తెలుపుతూ పెట్టిన పోస్ట్

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

MediaWisePolitics & government

Biden told the press "I'm not gonna take any questions because I think it's inappropriate"

Publisher’s rating: Mostly Not Legit

The claim concerns a short clip shared by the Republican National Committee on Jan. 27, 2022, in which President Joe Biden says, “I’m not gonna take any questions because I think it’s inappropriate.” MediaWise traced the clip to an event where Biden was announcing Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement. The words in the claim are genuine, but the clip omits the rest of Biden’s explanation. In the fuller remarks, Biden said he would not take questions “with the justice here,” noting that Breyer was still on the bench. He then told reporters they would have opportunities to ask him questions later. The review explains that the event was intended to honor Breyer, rather than discuss his replacement; Biden had not yet nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson. This context narrows what Biden meant: he was declining questions at that particular event, not saying that questions from reporters generally were inappropriate. MediaWise’s conclusion is therefore not that the quote was fabricated. Its account says the RNC video was deceptively edited because it cut off the end of Biden’s sentence, leaving out the reason for his decision. The full remarks support the quoted words while showing that the clip’s omission changes their apparent scope.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: palanivel thiagarajan not made this statement about mk stalin cooling jacket

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a social-media news card alleging that Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s cooling jacket, worn on a trip to Dubai, cost ₹17 crore. It describes the card as presenting the claim as a News 7 Tamil report. The review’s conclusion was that the card was fabricated, rather than an authentic report or statement by Thiagarajan. (S1: “துபாய் சென்ற தமிழ்நாடு முதலமைச்சர் மு.க.ஸ்டாலின் அணிந்திருந்த கூலிங் ஜாக்கெட் விலை ரூ.17 கோடி என்று தமிழக நிதித்துறை அமைச்சர் பிடிஆர் பழனிவேல் தியாகராஜன் கூறினார் என்று ஒரு நியூஸ் கார்டு சமூக ஊடகங்களில் பகிரப்பட்டு வருகிறது.”; “இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டு போலியானது.”) To check the card’s provenance, the fact-checkers compared it with a News 7 Tamil card from March 24, 2022, which they said used the same photograph but had different text: it concerned Dubai welcoming Stalin and the Tamil word “நல்வரவு” (“welcome”) at an exhibition. They reported that the ₹17-crore version had been edited from that genuine card. (S1: “அப்போது, நாம் ஆய்வுக்கு எடுத்துக்கொண்டது போன்ற நியூஸ் கார்டை மார்ச் 24, 2022 அன்று நியூஸ் 7 தமிழ் வெளியிட்டிருந்தது.”; “இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டை எடிட் செய்து விஷமப் பிரசாரம் செய்திருப்பது தெரிந்தது.”) The review also says it contacted the News 7 Tamil digital division’s responsible official, who confirmed that the card was fake. It further reports that Thiagarajan posted that the card was false on his Twitter account. Together, the reported comparison and those confirmations support the review’s finding that the alleged statement was falsely attributed to him. (S1: “நியூஸ் 7 தமிழ் டிஜிட்டல் பிரிவு பொறுப்பாளரைத் தொடர்புகொண்டு கேட்டோம். அவரும் இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டு போலியானது என்று உறுதி செய்தார்.”; “அவருடைய ட்விட்டர் பக்கத்தில் இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டு போலியானது என்று குறிப்பிட்டுப் பதிவிட்டிருந்தார்.”)

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: old picture of modi with sonia and manmohan singh trending now

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns an image circulated as showing Narendra Modi disrespecting Sonia Gandhi: she appears to greet someone while Modi stands with his arms folded. The review says the post presented the scene as though Gandhi had greeted Modi and he had failed to respond. Its conclusion is that the image was misleadingly presented, not that it documented that exchange. The review describes the people in the picture as Modi, Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, and says Gandhi’s gaze is directed elsewhere rather than at Modi. (S1) To investigate the image’s provenance, the reviewers say they searched for it using reverse-image search and found it had appeared in news coverage over several years. They report that one outlet credited the photograph to PTI, though the article excerpt does not identify the outlet or give a date or location for the photograph. The review then pursued a lead that it was taken during a Ramleela event on Dussehra in 2014, searching YouTube with related keywords and finding videos published that year. (S1) The decisive evidence described is a full video published by Zee News in 2014. According to the review, it shows Modi arriving by car, greeting Gandhi and Singh, and joining them; later, the three are talking while waiting for other dignitaries. At about 3:30 in the video, Gandhi greets someone else as Modi stands nearby with his arms folded. The still image isolates that moment, which the review says was shared to imply that Gandhi had greeted Modi and he had snubbed her. This explanation addresses the image and its context; the excerpt does not establish when the image began trending in the period described by the claim. (S1)

dpaPolitics & government

Verschillende claims over acties van Poetin: gaf arrestatiebevel voor George Soros uit, zette de Rotschild familie uit Rusland, brak al in 2012 met het WEF, etc.

Publisher’s rating: De berichten hangen aaneen met foute claims, die vaak ook al jaren oud zijn. Zo is er geen Russisch arrestatiebevel tegen George Soros en werden er geen Rotschilds uit Rusland gezet. Tot begin maart 2022 was Rusland betrokken bij het WEF en nam Rusland ook deel aan het internationale bank- en financiënwezen.