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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

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

FACT CHECK: එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සමුළුවේ දී ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභයගේ කතාව අතරතුර සභා ගැබේ සිටි පිරිසක් ඉන් ඉවත්වුණා ද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerned social-media posts suggesting that people in the United Nations General Assembly hall left while Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was speaking. The review identifies the event as his address to the General Debate of the Assembly’s 76th session in New York on September 22, 2021. It says the posts conveyed that the hall had been fuller for other leaders and that many attendees had departed for Rajapaksa’s speech. [S1: “මෙම සටහන් මඟින් අදහස් කර තිබුණේ, අනෙකුත් නායකයින් කතා පැවත්වූ අවස්ථාවල දී සභා ගැබේ වැඩි පිරිසක් සිටි බවත් ජනපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙම සැසියේදී කතා කළ අවස්ථාවේ බොහෝ පිරිසක් ඉවත්ව ගොස් තිබූ බවත්ය.”; “සැප්තැම්බර් මස 22 වන දා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සිදුකළ සම්පුර්ණ කතාව”] To check the posts, the investigators examined video from the session and compared images showing the hall during Rajapaksa’s address with images from other leaders speaking on the same day. They report that all leaders who addressed the General Debate on September 22 had a relatively small audience, and that the comparisons did not show a notable difference in the number of people in the hall. [S1: “එම අවස්ථාවට අදාළ වීඩියෝ රූප රාමු පරීක්ෂා කිරීමේ දී තහවුරු වූයේ සැප්තැම්බර් මස 22 වනදා, සැසිවාරය ආමන්ත්‍රණය කරනු ලැබූ රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් සියලු දෙනාගේ කතාවන් වලදී අඩු පිරිසක් සහභාගී වී තිබූ බවයි.”; “මේ අනුව ද සභා ගර්භයේ රැස්ව සිටින්නන් ප්‍රමාණය අතර වෙනසක් නොවී ඇති බවට නිරීක්ෂණය වෙනවා.”] The review also says that the available footage of Rajapaksa’s full address and the invitation to speak did not show people leaving the hall. It notes an important context missing from the posts: fewer people attended on September 22 than on the session’s opening day, September 21, and COVID-19 precautions meant attendees were seated with social distancing. Taken together, the review’s comparisons and footage do not support the posts’ implication that people left specifically during Rajapaksa’s speech. [S1: “ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කළ සම්පූර්ණ කථාව අතරතුරදී හෝ ආමන්ත්‍රණය කිරීමට ආරාධනා කරන අවස්ථාවේදී හෝ සභා ගැබේ පිරිස ඉන් ඉවත්වන අයුරු එහි දක්නට නොලැබුණි.”; “සැසිවාරය සඳහා සහභාගී වූ නායකයින් අතරේ ද සමාජ දුරස්ථභාවය පවත්වාගනිමින් අසුන් පනවා තිබූ බවයි.”; “සැසියේ ආරම්භක දිනය වූ සැප්තැම්බර් මස 21 වැනිදා, දෙවැනි දින වූ සැප්තැම්බර් 22 වනදා ට සාපේක්ෂව වැඩි පිරිසක් සහභාගී වී තිබූ බව”]

FACTLYPolitics & government

మోదీ బ్రిటన్‌లో 53 దేశాల సమావేశంలో జనరల్ ప్రెసిడెంట్ అయ్యాడు; ప్రపంచంలోని 25 అత్యంత శక్తివంతమైన దేశాల జాబితాలో భారత్ నాల్గవ స్థానంలో ఉంది, మొదలైన పలు మోదీ సాధించిన విజయాలు

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLYPolitics & government

Visuals of large crowd gathering at the Muzaffarnagar Mahapanchayat organised by the protesting farmers

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns aerial footage of a large crowd circulated as showing the Kisan Mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, organised by farmers protesting the new farm laws. The review distinguishes the event itself from the video: it says the gathering did attract many people, but that the viral footage was not of that gathering. It identifies the footage instead as showing the funeral procession of Pakistani cleric Khadim Rizvi in 2020. [S1: “Though the kisan Mahapanchayat saw the participation of a large number of people, the visuals of the viral video have nothing to do with this panchayat.”; “These visuals actually show large crowd attending the funeral procession of Pakistani cleric Khadim Rizvi back in 2020.”] To trace the video, the review says reverse-image searches of screenshots led to a similar YouTube video, whose description identified it as drone footage of Rizvi’s funeral. It then reports finding footage from Pakistani news agencies and matching the viral clip to visuals at 7:18 in one such report. The review also cites news photographs attributed to the funeral prayer in Lahore on November 21, 2020. [S1: “Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video led us to a similar video on YouTube. As per the description, these are the drone visuals of Pakistani cleric Khadim Rizvi’s funeral.”; “In this video from the 7:18 timestamp, the visuals are exactly similar to the viral video.”; “the image shows ‘activists and supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) gathering for the funeral prayer of Khadim Hussain Rizvi, founder of TLP, in Lahore on November 21, 2020’”] The investigation’s central distinction is therefore between a real, large farmers’ gathering and unrelated footage reused to represent it. The reported visual match and the separate attribution of similar footage and images to Rizvi’s funeral support the conclusion that the video does not document the Muzaffarnagar event. [S1: “Although people from different parts of the country attended the panchayat, the viral video in the post is not related to this panchayat organised by the protesting farmers.”]