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 image12,752 published reviews in this topic
Claim: Narayanan Tirupathy not made this comment about MK Stalin
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerned a social-media post attributing the phrase “Stalin licks our feet” to Narayanan Tirupathy, then a Tamil Nadu BJP spokesperson. The post presented the phrase as a BJP leader’s remark and used a screenshot resembling a Satyam TV YouTube thumbnail. Fact Crescendo reports that the post was shared on Facebook on January 2, 2022, and says it investigated whether Tirupathy had actually made the statement. Its review identifies the phrase on the screenshot as “ஸ்டாலின் எங்கள் கால்களை நக்குகிறார் பாஜக தலைவரின் திமிர் பேச்சு” and describes the post’s attribution to him: “தமிழ்நாடு பா.ஜ.க செய்தித் தொடர்பாளர் நாராயணன் திருப்பதி தமிழ்நாடு முதலமைச்சர் மு.க.ஸ்டாலினை மிக மோசமாக விமர்சித்ததாக பலரும் பகிர்ந்து வருகின்றனர்.” The review says it searched Google for the wording on the screenshot and found a Satyam TV video using it as a title. It then watched that video and reported that Tirupathy did not make the alleged remark in it. The review describes the title and video as unrelated, and says this discrepancy established that the viral claim was false: “நாராயணன் திருப்பதி அப்படி கூறியதாக வீடியோவில் எங்கும் இல்லை” and “தலைப்புக்கும் வீடியோவுக்கும் தொடர்பு இல்லை என்பதன் மூலம் இந்த செய்தி தவறானது என்று உறுதியானது.” Fact Crescendo also says it searched for other interviews or social-media posts containing the alleged statement, but found no report that Tirupathy had said it. It then located a post on his Twitter account in which he called the attribution fake and asked Tamil Nadu police to act against the outlet. The review quotes his response: “நான் சொல்லாததை சொன்னதாக (FAKE) பரப்பும், தமிழக முதல்வரை @mkstalin அவர்களை இழிவுபடுத்தும் இந்த நிறுவனத்தின் மீது தமிழக காவல் துறை @PoliceTamilnadu நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும்”. Taken together, the video check, the search for other instances, and Tirupathy’s denial support the review’s conclusion that the viral attribution was false.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan was expelled from the Conference of Islamic Countries for condemning the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim says that Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, was expelled from a body called the “Conference of Islamic Countries” because he condemned construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. FACTLY’s review examines that specific allegation and identifies the relevant organisation as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), rather than a body with the name used in the claim. It reports that Pakistan is an OIC member and that the OIC describes itself as the “Collective voice of the Muslim world.” The review says its online search for reports that Khan had been expelled found no credible information supporting the story. It adds that an expulsion of this kind would have been reported by major news outlets, but does not present that expectation as direct proof. Its central finding is that it found no evidence that Khan had been expelled from the OIC. The review also checks two pieces of OIC-related context that might be confused with the alleged expulsion. It says a WION article about the OIC’s 2020 summit concerned Pakistan seeking to put Kashmir on the agenda, and contained no mention of Khan being expelled. Separately, it cites an OIC press release dated 22 December 2019 expressing concern about citizenship rights and the Babri Masjid case. That statement shows the OIC addressed issues related to Muslims in India; it does not support the claimed expulsion or the claim’s stated reason.
ජවිපෙ නායක අනුර කුමාර සහ ගම්පහ දිසා වන නිලධාරිනී දේවානි ජයතිලක සුහද කතාබහක ??
Publisher’s rating: Misleading
The claim concerns a circulated image presented as showing Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake in conversation with Devaani Jayathilaka, the Gampaha Divisional Forest Officer. The review says the post framed the masked woman in the image as Jayathilaka and used a purported exchange between the two as its caption. Its investigation focused on identifying the woman actually shown, rather than establishing that the image depicted a meeting between Dissanayake and Jayathilaka. The review reports that it found no corresponding image or report in mainstream media, but that absence was not its decisive identification evidence. (S1)
‘News 24’ channel apologised to Akhilesh Yadav for reporting Piyush Jain as a member of the Samajwadi Party
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerns a purported News 24 tweet apologising to Akhilesh Yadav for linking arrested Kanpur businessman Piyush Jain to the Samajwadi Party. The review places the claim amid political accusations following a raid on Jain’s premises: it says officials seized 177 crore rupees in unaccounted cash on 22 December 2021, and that Yogi Adityanath later alleged Jain was a Samajwadi Party member. The review says several channels reported Adityanath’s statement; it does not establish that News 24 itself had reported Jain as a party member and then apologised. “On 29 December 2021, while addressing a public meeting, Yogi Adityanath alleged Piyush Jain is a member of the Samajwadi Party. Several news channels reported Yogi Adityanath’s statement claiming the arrested Piyush Jain as a member of the Samajwadi Party.” To assess the circulating screenshot, the review says it searched News 24’s official Twitter account and found no such tweet. It also compared the image’s typography and graphics with News 24 material, reporting differences in the text font and the channel’s breaking-news template. These checks address whether the purported apology tweet was authentic, rather than relying only on the broader dispute over Jain’s political connections. “When we searched for this tweet on ‘News 24’ channel’s official Twitter handle, we could not find any such tweet on the ‘News 24’ Twitter handle.” The review adds: “The ‘News 24’ text font in the tweet differs from the font of other words in the tweet. Also, the colour and graphics scheme of a normal ‘News 24’ breaking news template differs from the one shared in the post.” The review further reports that News 24 issued a clarification calling the viral image fake. It concludes that the image was a morphed tweet, not a genuine channel apology. Separately, it describes confusion between Piyush Jain and SP MLC Pushpraj Jain: the latter was associated with the launch of Samajwadi Attar, while Akhilesh Yadav said the raid had targeted the wrong businessman. That political context does not authenticate the purported News 24 tweet. “The channel clarified that the viral tweet circulating on social media is a fake one.”
News24 ने ट्वीट कर अखिलेश यादव से मांगी माफी
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ධූරයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වීමේ තීරණයක ?
Publisher’s rating: False
The review examined social-media posts claiming that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had decided, or was preparing, to resign. It reports that the publisher found no mainstream-media reports supporting the initial claim and contacted presidential spokesperson Kingsley Rathnayake. According to the review, he said the claim was untrue and noted that presidential decisions would be announced through the president’s official social-media accounts. The review also describes a renewed version of the claim, framed as the president considering resignation, which circulated with assertions about how it might be arranged without harming the governing party or state administration. The publisher says those posts provided no official source for the alleged discussions. It then reports seeking comment again from the presidential media unit; director Sandamali Ekanayake told the publisher the claim was completely false. The review’s conclusion was that Rajapaksa had not decided to resign.
ඇමැති ප්රසන්න රණතුංගට තලවතුගොඩ හෝටලයකදී ජනතාවගෙන් හූ ප්රහාරයක්?
Publisher’s rating: Explainer
The claim concerned Minister Prasanna Ranatunga and his family allegedly being heckled by the public while having dinner at a hotel in Thalawathugoda, then leaving without eating. The review says versions of this story circulated on social media and websites; some reports instead described the person involved as a state minister. The reported setting was Monarch Imperial, with one English-language account placing the alleged incident at about 9 p.m. on December 23. The review identifies the event as the claim under investigation, not as an established occurrence. (S1: “තලවතුගොඩ ප්රදේශයේ හෝටලයක රාත්රී ආහාරය සදහා ගිය ප්රසන්න රණතුංග කැබිනට් ඇමැතිවරයා ඇතුලු ඔහුගේ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයින්ට ජනතාව හූ තබමින් විරෝධය පළකිරීම නිසා එම ස්ථානයෙන් පිටව යාමට සිදුවූ බවයි.”; “තලවතුගොඩ Monarch Imperial නම් සුපිරි අවන්හලට ආහාර ගැනීම සදහා දෙසැම්බර් 23 රාත්රී 9 ට පමණ ඇතුළු වූ රාජ්ය අමාත්යවරයෙක්ට එල්ලවූ ජනතා විරෝධය නිසා ආහාර නොගෙනම ආපසු හැරී යාමට සිදුවූ බවක්.”) To check the account, the review says it contacted Monarch Imperial’s chief operating officer and security staff, as well as Ranatunga’s media secretary. The chief operating officer said an incident of the kind described had not occurred at the premises on December 23 or around that date; the security representative also said no such problem had been reported. Ranatunga’s media secretary said the minister had not visited the hotel in the preceding days and had not faced the alleged incident. (S1: “සමාජ ජාල සටහන්වල දැක්වෙන ආකාරයේ සිදුවීමක් Monarch Imperial පරිශ්රෙය් දී දෙසැම්බර් 23 හෝ ඒ ආසන්න දිනයකදී සිදු නොවුනු බවයි.”; “එහි ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරී මහතෙකු ද පවසා සිටියේ මෙවන් ප්රශ්නයක් වාර්තා වී තිබුනේ නැති බවයි”; “අමාත්යවරයා පසුගිය දින කිහිපයේ දී අදාළ හෝටල් පරිශ්රය වෙත ගොස් තිබුනේ නැති බවත් සමාජ ජාලාවල සදහන්වන ආකාරයේ අකරතැබ්බයකට මුහුණදීමට සිදුනොවූ බවයි”) The review also compared the video shared as evidence with a similar video published by Lanka C News. It says that video was presented as showing employees protesting against the chairperson of a government institution, and that its background did not match the Thalawathugoda hotel. In an interview, Ranatunga also denied being heckled as described. Taken together, the hotel and minister’s representatives’ responses and the video’s different stated setting undermine the social-media account; the excerpt does not provide independent footage or records of the alleged hotel visit. (S1: “එහි සදහන්ව ඇත්තේ රජයේ ආයතනයක සභාපතිවරයෙකුට එහි සේවකයින්ගෙන් එල්ලවන විරෝධය ලෙසයි.”; “එම වීඩියෝ වේ පසුබිම පරීක්ෂා කිරීමේ දී ද එය තලවතුගොඩ ඉහත දැක්වූ හෝටල් පරිශ්රයේ සිදුවීමක් නොවන බව පෙනී යනවා.”; “ප්රසන්න රණතුංග ඇමැතිවරයා තමන්ට ජනතාව හූ කී බවට වන සටහන ප්රතික්ෂේප කර තිබුණා”)”
Biden bedondert de boel met een foute bezoek aan een ziekenhuis.
Publisher’s rating: De gebruikers laten zich misleiden. De afbeeldingen zijn echt en het bordje met ‘Seacrest Studios’ ook. Dat is echter een vaste ruimte in het bewuste kinderziekenhuis. De Ryan Seacrest Foundation heeft dergelijke studio’s gebouwd in verschillende ziekenhuizen verspreid over de Verenigde Staten, om kinderen hun talent voor de camera te laten benutten.
The claim arose from photos of Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, visiting Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., on Christmas Eve. Social-media users pointed to a sign reading “Seacrest Studios” and suggested that the visit was staged in a film studio rather than taking place at a hospital. The review examined the photos and the location identified in the posts, rather than treating the studio sign by itself as proof of a staged event. The review reports that the widely circulated image was a screenshot of a Reuters tweet containing video. It says comparison with that video showed that the screenshots had not been manipulated and that the sign was real. But the sign identified a dedicated room inside the hospital: a studio where young patients could try activities such as presenting a radio show or making a television program. Thus, the presence of filming equipment or a studio sign did not establish that the hospital was a set. The review also checked the history and distribution of the studio program. It describes the Ryan Seacrest Foundation as an initiative that builds broadcast studios in pediatric hospitals, and says the Washington hospital was one of eleven such locations across the United States. It cites an archived hospital webpage from April 2021 and a foundation Instagram post dated November 6, 2015, reporting the studio’s opening. That earlier documentation supports the distinction central to the claim: the studio was built within the hospital, not the hospital constructed as a film set for Biden’s visit.
FACT CHECK: හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්රිකාගෙන් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ දැඩිව විවේචනය කරමින් ප්රකාශයක්?
Publisher’s rating: False
The review investigates a social-media post attributed to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike. The post presented a first-person account referring to the 2001 coalition government, her husband’s killing, the JVP’s ministerial roles, the tsunami relief board dispute, and Dayasiri. The claim was that she had made these remarks while criticizing the JVP. The review identifies the circulating text as a social-media claim, rather than reporting it as an authenticated statement. (S1: “සමාජ ජාලා සටහන් චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනියගේ ඡායාරූපයක් සමගින් පහත සටහන ෆේස්බුක් ඔස්සේ සංසරණය වුණා.”; “2001 පරිවාස ආණ්ඩුව මගේ හිතට තවමත් වද දෙන කාරණයක්.”) To check whether she had made the statement, the review says it looked for reporting about it in mainstream Sri Lankan media and examined whether she had made a comparable, contentious statement about the JVP in the preceding weeks. It reports finding no such media report and no such recent statement. It then says the former president’s office’s deputy director for media affairs, Tharindu Thotawatta, told the publisher that she had made no such statement and that the social-media posts were entirely false. (S1: “අප මුලින්ම සොයා බැලුවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්රිකා විසින් මෙවැනි ප්රකාශයක් සිදුකිරීමක් පිලිබඳ කිසිඳු හෝ මාධ්යක් වාර්තා කර තිබුනේ ද යන්නයි. නමුත් අපට ඒ ආකාරයේ පුවතක් ලංකාවේ කිසිදු ප්රධාන ධාරාවේ මාධ්යයක් ඔස්සේ දැක ගන්නට ලැබුනේ නැහැ.”; “ඔහු පැවසුවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනිය කිසිදු ආකාරයක මෙවන් ප්රකාශයක් සිදු කර නොමැති අතර මෙම සමාජ ජාල සටහන් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අසත්ය බවයි.”) The review also reports that Bandaranaike rejected the posts through her official Facebook account. Its conclusion is that she did not make the statement attributed to her. The excerpt does not provide a direct link or reproduced text of that Facebook response, so the basis available here is the review’s account of the post, its described media search, and the office representative’s response. (S1: “හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක විසින් මෙම සාමාජ ජාල සටහන් අසත්ය බවට සිය නිල ෆේස්බුක් ගිණුම හරහා අදහස් දක්වා තිබුණේ මෙලෙසින්.”; “අපවිසින් සිදු කරන ලද ගවේෂණයේදී හෙළිවූයේ චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරිය විසින් සමාජ ජාලාවල පළවන ආකාරයේ ,ජවිපෙ විවේචනය කරමින් ප්රකාශයක් සිදුකර නොමැති බවයි.”)
තිස්ස කුට්ටිආරච්චිට අලුත් ප්රාඩෝ රථයක්, ආණ්ඩුවෙන් තෑගි?
Publisher’s rating: Misleading
The review investigates social-media posts claiming that Sri Lankan MP Tissa Kuttiachchi had received a new Prado from the government. It reports that the posts circulated with his photograph and described the vehicle as a Christmas gift. The review’s central finding is that it found no official evidence that the government had recently given him a Prado, and that both the government’s Department of Government Information and Kuttiachchi rejected the claim. To check the allegation, the review says it looked for a government response and found a statement from the Department of Government Information rejecting reports that the government had provided Kuttiachchi a vehicle for his personal use. It also contacted Kuttiachchi. According to the review, he said he did not use a government-provided vehicle or fuel allowance, had not recently received a vehicle from the government or anyone else, and used private vehicles. He also said he had not recently bought a vehicle privately. These are statements reported by the review, rather than independently documented vehicle records in the supplied excerpt. The review adds that it found no reports of vehicles being given to other MPs and no official source confirming a recent government-provided Prado for Kuttiachchi. It notes that he speculated the story might have arisen from a joke he made to other MPs in Parliament, but the excerpt does not establish that as the posts’ origin. The evidence presented therefore challenges the specific claim of a recent government gift; it does not establish that Kuttiachchi owned no vehicles, and the review reports that he acknowledged having several private vehicles.
జమ్మూ కాశ్మీర్ చరిత్రలో మొదటిసారి SC,ST లకు అసెంబ్లీ సీట్లలో రిజర్వేషన్ కల్పించిన మోదీ సర్కార్
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
మోదీ ఉత్తరప్రదేశ్ పర్యటనలో అక్కడి ప్రజలు ‘మోదీ గో బ్యాక్’ అని అంటున్న వీడియో
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
वारणसी में लोगों ने प्रधानमंत्री के खिलाफ नारे लगाए।
Publisher’s rating: False
ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය සමග එකතුවීමට අකමැත්තක් නැති බවට අනුර කුමාරගෙන් ප්රකාශයක්?
Publisher’s rating: Explainer
The review examined a social-media post attributing to JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake the statement that he had “no objection” to joining the SLFP, and suggesting the statement had appeared on the LankaTruth website. The post’s political framing was relevant because discussion of possible cooperation between the parties was already circulating. The review concluded that the attribution was misleading: it found no evidence that Dissanayake made the quoted statement. To check the attribution, the publisher says it looked for the statement in mainstream media coverage and on LankaTruth’s website and social-media pages. It also contacted the JVP media division, which, according to the review, confirmed that Dissanayake had not made such a statement. The excerpt does not identify the specific media outlets or provide the division’s response as a separate document, so those details cannot be independently assessed from the supplied text. The review distinguishes the alleged quote from statements about political alliances that were actually reported. It says Dissanayake had recently stated that the JVP did not intend to form alliances, directly or indirectly, with major parties that had governed the country. It also reports that JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva rejected joining those parties after SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara had spoken of a possible future alliance. Thus, discussion of a possible alliance was real, but the review says it did not substantiate the specific statement attributed to Dissanayake.
प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने आईएएस आरती डोगरा के पैर छूएं
Publisher’s rating: False