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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.

12,752 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYPolitics & government

Akhilesh Yadav’s tweet likening himself to ‘Ravan’ in the context of Aparna Yadav joining the BJP

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns an image of a purported tweet in which Akhilesh Yadav allegedly likened himself to Ravan in the context of Aparna Yadav joining the BJP. FACTLY reports that the post showed the tweet as dated 19 January 2022 and attributed it to the handle @akhileshyadav. The review concludes that Akhilesh Yadav did not make it.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Recent 2022 video of PM Modi’s speech in Goa on corruption which made Congress leaders nervous

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned a clip presented on social media as a recent 2022 speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa about corruption, aimed at making Congress leaders nervous. FACTLY reports that the clip was being shared ahead of the Goa Assembly elections, but identifies it as footage of a speech Modi gave in Goa on 13 November 2016. It says the speech came within a week of demonetization and was not given in the context of the 2022 election. (S1: “A video clip of PM Modi is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows his recent speech in Goa on corruption, which is aimed at Congress leaders.”; “The clip is from a speech given by PM Modi in Goa on 13 November 2016, which was within a week of demonetization.”; “The speech is not given by Modi in the context of the upcoming elections in Goa (2022).”) To identify the footage, FACTLY says it ran screenshots through Google Reverse Image Search and found a matching speech video. It then searched for the speech using keywords and found it on Modi’s official Twitter and YouTube channels, published on 13 November 2016 under the title “PM’s speech at launch of various projects in Goa.” The review says the clip in the post appears from 59:05 in that video. (S1: “When the screenshots of the video were run through Google Reverse Image Search, many similar videos were found in the search results.”; “the same speech video was found on the official Twitter handle and YouTube channels of PM Narendra Modi.”; “The posted clip can be seen from 59:05 in the video.”) The review places the speech in its original setting: demonetization had been announced on 8 November 2016. It distinguishes that event from the upcoming 2022 Goa election, noting that Goa had held an Assembly election in 2017 after the speech. The evidence therefore supports that the clip is old and that its presentation as a speech made in the context of the 2022 election is misleading. (S1: “the speech was given in the context of demonetization, which was announced on 8 November 2016.”; “After the speech in the posted video, Goa had an Assembly election in 2017.”)

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

රෝහිත රාජපක්ෂ හෙලිකොප්ටර් කිහිපයක් පිරිවරා කොළඹ රේස්කෝස් පිටියට පැමිණියාද?

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned an image shared with a post alleging that Rohitha Rajapaksa had arrived the previous night at Colombo Racecourse accompanied by several helicopters, which supposedly landed on the road outside the McDonald’s restaurant. The investigation checked both whether the pictured scene was actually at Racecourse and whether such a helicopter landing had taken place there. Fact Crescendo reports that the image showed buildings resembling those along Race Course Avenue, but the streetlights did not match. It used reverse-image search and found the photograph was not a manipulated picture of a Colombo event: it showed members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and Delta Force operators during training exercises in Los Angeles. The review also notes that an earlier website had published the image in 2018, despite another site identifying it as from February 2019. The investigation sought confirmation from Sri Lanka’s Air Force headquarters, which said no such incident had occurred. Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Nihal Thalduwa likewise said there had been no such event on Race Course Avenue and described the report as entirely false. The review also says Rajapaksa was asked about the claim. Together, the image’s identified training context and the authorities’ statements address the specific Colombo location and alleged helicopter arrival.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ නර්ථනයේ යෙදෙන අවස්ථාවක්ද?

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a widely shared video showing a man dancing at a function, presented as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The review says viewers identified the dancer as the president because he looked similar to him, and that some posts framed the scene as the president dancing while an apparent security guard stood nearby. The video was therefore being used to suggest that Rajapaksa himself was the dancer. (S1: “යම්කිසි පුද්ගලයෙකු උත්සව ශාලාවකදී නර්ථනයේ යෙදෙන ආකාරයක් එමගින් දැක ගන්නට ලැබෙන අතර ඔහුගේ හැඩහුරුකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට බොහෝ සමානකම් දැක්වූ නිසාවෙන් බොහෝ දෙනෙකු එම ජනනපති බවට පවසා තිබුණි.”) The investigation reports examining the video’s frames closely. It concluded that the dancer was not Rajapaksa, despite the resemblance. The review also checked a proposed identification of the man as Dooland De Silva: his son, Dan De Silva, told the investigators by telephone that the dancer was not his father. The review says it had not established the dancer’s actual identity or the location shown in the video. (S1: “මෙම වීඩියෝවේ නර්තනය යෙදෙන පුද්ගලයා ජනාධිපති ‍ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ රූපයට සමාන කමක් තිබුණත් වීඩියෝවේ රූප රාමූ එකින් එකට නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමේදී දැක ගන්නට ලැබුණේ, එම පුද්ගලයා වෙනත් පුද්ගලයෙකු බවයි.”; “ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ, එහි සිටින්නේ තමන්ගේ පියාණන් වන ඩූලන්ඩ් ද සිල්වා මහතා නොවන බවයි.”; “මෙම වීඩියෝවේ දැක්වෙන සත්‍ය පුද්ගලයා හෝ ස්ථානය පිළිබඳව අපට මෙතෙක් සොයා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වූවත්”) The review also reports contacting the President’s Media Division, which said Rajapaksa was not the person dancing in the circulated video. It addressed posts that described the person behind the dancer as a security officer: the Media Division said that person was not a security officer, but another dancer, and noted that presidential security officers use earpieces. These points provide additional context, while the review’s central finding rests on its reported examination of the video frames. (S1: “ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශයද සඳහන් කළේ, සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ සංසරණය වූ වීඩියෝවේ නර්ථනය යෙදෙන්නේ, ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නොවන බවයි.”; “මෙහි සිටින පුද්ගලයා පසු පස නර්ථනයේ යෙදෙන්නේ ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරියෙකු නොව නර්ථනයේ නියැලෙන වෙනත් පුද්ගලයෙකු බවට අනුමාන කළ හැකි බවද සඳහන් කරනු ලැබුවා.”)

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: DMK minister Sakkarapani not made this comment

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

A viral card attributed to News 7 Tamil claimed that Food Minister Sakkarapani said people were ungrateful even though Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had personally overseen the Pongal gift package. The review checked whether the card and the alleged remark were genuine. It reports that the card did not match News 7 Tamil’s usual font and that the minister’s name was missing from it, features the reviewers considered suspicious. The review then compared the viral image with cards on News 7 Tamil’s Facebook page. It found no matching card there. Looking back through the page, it located a similar-looking card dated January 11, 2022, but that card said the minister had responded to complaints about the Pongal package by saying that those making complaints belonged to the AIADMK and that the DMK government had provided more in Pongal gifts than the AIADMK had. The review says the viral card had been edited to add the alleged ungratefulness statement. For further verification, the reviewers sent the card to News 7 Tamil. The outlet subsequently posted on social media that the card was fake, according to the review. The reviewers also searched Google for reports that Sakkarapani had made the alleged comment and said they found none. On the evidence described, the viral attribution was false: the similar original card carried a different statement, and News 7 Tamil itself labelled the circulated card fake.

dpaPolitics & government

In Magdeburg, Hamburg, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Augsburg, Frankfurt am Main und Potsdam waren am 8. Januar 2022 jeweils mehr als 10.000 Menschen auf der Straße, um gegen die Corona-Politik zu demonstrieren.

Publisher’s rating: Es gab in einigen Fällen Tausende Protestierende, doch nicht in allen genannten Städten. Für Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Augsburg und Potsdam zum Beispiel ist die angebliche Teilnehmerzahl drastisch übertrieben.

The claim concerns attendance at anti-coronavirus-policy demonstrations in seven German cities on 8 January 2022. The review traces the claim to figures circulated on social media and compares them with reported police estimates and local newspaper accounts. It finds that the assertion of more than 10,000 people in every city is not supported: the estimates varied substantially by location. For Magdeburg, the circulated figure was 20,000, but the review says that number was not substantiated and reports the police estimate of about 5,000 at the protest’s peak. In Hamburg, police reported up to 13,700 demonstrators by evening, while an earlier estimate was about 16,000. Frankfurt am Main also fell below the claim’s 12,000 figure: police estimated up to 8,000. The reported figures were much lower in the other four cities. Police estimated about 6,000 participants in Freiburg and 1,800 in Karlsruhe, rather than 15,000 in each. In Augsburg, police put attendance at about 2,000–2,500, compared with the circulated figure of 10,000. For Potsdam, the review cites local newspaper reports of around 200 demonstrators and several hundred, rather than 10,000. Thus the evidence supports large demonstrations in some places, but not the claim that all seven cities each had more than 10,000 attendees.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: DMK minister Sakkarapani not made this comment

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media news card attributed to Thanthi TV. It purported to quote Food Minister Sakkarapani saying that providing a Pongal gift package was already “more than enough,” and that the government could not also give money. The card was being shared amid public expectations of cash assistance alongside the Pongal package. Fact Crescendo reports that one Facebook user posted it on January 17, 2022, and that others also shared it. The review checked the card’s provenance rather than relying only on how plausible the quote sounded. It noted that the design resembled Thanthi TV’s, but that the Tamil font did not match the channel’s cards. Since the card claimed to be from January 11, investigators looked at Thanthi TV’s news cards from that date and found an original card. That card carried a different statement attributed to Sakkarapani: it referred to the DMK government providing ₹4,000 in COVID relief as stated in its election manifesto, and to the AIADMK government having stopped the Pongal package previously provided under the DMK. It did not contain the circulating alleged quote. Fact Crescendo says it also contacted a manager in Thanthi TV’s digital division, who confirmed that the circulating card was fake. On the basis of the comparison and that confirmation, the review concludes that the card had been edited to add false information and that Sakkarapani did not make the quoted comment in the manner claimed. The excerpt establishes that the attributed card was fabricated; it does not provide a transcript or independent account of all the minister’s remarks on the subject.

dpaPolitics & government

Vrijdag wordt gestemd over 2G, sommige Kamerleden zijn daarbij buiten spel gezet.

Publisher’s rating: Vrijdag bespreekt de Commissie Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport het voorstel tot wetswijziging die betrekking heeft op de 2G-maatregel. Dit is nog niet het plenaire debat in de Tweede Kamer en dus ook nog niet de stemming. Dit volgt nog, maar deze datum is nog niet bekend. Het klopt overigens wel dat Omtzigt en Van Haga niet kunnen stemmen bij de Commissievergadering. Dat komt omdat zij geen lid zijn van die commissie.

The review distinguishes the scheduled Friday meeting from the vote described in the claim. It says the House’s Health, Welfare and Sport Committee was due to discuss a proposed amendment concerning the 2G measure. That meeting was not the full House’s plenary debate, and it was not the vote on the proposal. The review says the date of that later plenary debate had not yet been announced. The claim therefore conflates a committee discussion with a parliamentary vote. [S1: “Wat voor aanstaande vrijdag op de agenda van de Tweede Kamer staat is een Commissievergadering, geen plenair debat met de hele Kamer. De definitieve beslissing wordt dan ook waarschijnlijk nog niet vrijdag genomen. Wanneer het plenaire debat wel is, is nog niet bekend.”] The part about Omtzigt and Van Haga being unable to vote at that committee meeting is supported, but the review explains that this restriction applied to the committee, not to a vote by the entire House. It attributes their inability to vote in the committee to their not being members of it. The review also says they could attend and speak, while their votes did not count there. [S1: “Het klopt dat de genoemde Kamerleden, Omtzigt en Van Haga, deze vrijdag bij de Commissievergadering niet mogen stemmen. Dat komt omdat zij 'afsplitsers' zijn.”] [S1: “Zij mogen dan wel bij vergaderingen aanwezig zijn en meepraten, maar hun stemmen tellen hier niet mee.”] The distinction matters because the review describes a later plenary vote as involving all 150 members of the Tweede Kamer, including these two MPs. At the time covered by the review, no date for that plenary debate had been announced. Thus, the claim’s suggestion that Friday was the vote and that the MPs were excluded from the eventual full-House vote is misleading: their voting restriction concerned the committee meeting. [S1: “Bij die stemming mogen dus alle 150 Kamerleden stemmen. Zoals eerder al benoemd, is voor het voorstel over de 2G-regeling nog geen datum voor het plenaire debat bekend.”]

FACTLYPolitics & government

Photo of Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann sitting in front of liquor shops

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a social-media photo claiming to show Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann sitting in front of liquor shops. It reports that the men were actually photographed on a farm field, and that liquor shops were added to the background. The original scene was connected to a visit to farmers in Chamkaur Sahib, in Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s constituency. [S1: “The photo of Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann on a farm field has been morphed to include the image of liquor shops in the background.”; “The original image was taken when they went to meet with some farmers in Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s constituency, Chamkaur Sahib.”] The review describes using reverse image search to locate a similar image in a video on AAP’s official YouTube channel. It says the video was from 14 January 2021 and showed Kejriwal and Mann meeting farmers in Punjab’s fields. The review notes that the video images had a different background from the circulating photo, then compared the images and found that the photo’s background had been altered to include liquor stores. [S1: “When reverse image search is done on the photo, a similar image was found in a video uploaded in the official YouTube channel of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).”; “The video is from 14 January 2021 when Arvind Kejriwal, along with Bhagwant Mann went to meet farmers in the fields of Punjab.”; “When the photo is compared with the images, it can be clearly seen that the background in the photo has been morphed to add the image of liquor stores.”] The review also says the liquor-shop image used in the altered background had appeared in articles about liquor stores published in 2020. This provides additional context for the background image’s prior circulation, while the comparison with the AAP video is the evidence the review gives for identifying the men’s actual setting. [S1: “The image of the liquor shops is being used at least since 2020.”; “It is found in the articles published in 2020 about liquor stores, here and here.”]