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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 CrescendoPolitics & government

ទិដ្ឋ​ភាព​លោក​អតីត​ប្រធានាធិបតី​សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក​ លោក​ ដូណាល់​ ត្រាំ​ បាន​កាន់​បង្ហាញ​រូប​ថត​លោក​ ហ៊ុន​ សែន​ ដោយ​ភា្ជប់​នឹង​ការ​សរសេរ​ថា​លោក​ ហ៊ុន សែន​ គឺ​ជា​មេ​ផ្តាច់​ការ​

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The claim concerns a Facebook image showing former US president Donald Trump holding a picture of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, with overlaid text describing Hun Sen as a dictator. The review says the image circulated among Khmer-speaking social media users and notes that a Facebook user had posted it on July 10, 2019. Its investigation focused on whether that image was authentic.

dpaPolitics & government

Uitspraak van Voltaire: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize"

Publisher’s rating: De quote is niet afkomstig van Voltaire, maar van Kevin Alfred Strom. Die is eigenaar van National Vanguard, dat openlijk de holocaust in twijfel trekt. Hij werd in 2008 veroordeeld wegens het bezitten van kinderporno.

The review investigates the specific saying, “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize,” which was circulating on Facebook with Voltaire’s name attached. It reports that a Voltaire specialist cited by The Guardian regarded it as one of many sayings wrongly attributed to the philosopher, while noting that its sentiment could seem compatible with Voltaire’s thinking. That resemblance, the review explains, does not establish authorship. (S1: “Op Facebook deelt een gebruiker een quote (hier gearchiveerd) die wordt toegeschreven aan Voltaire. \"To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize,\" luidt de quote”; “De Britse krant citeert een heuse Voltaire-expert, die aangeeft dat het één van de vele quotes is die ten onrechte aan de filosoof worden toegeschreven. Niet vreemd, zegt deze Dr. Paul Gibbard. De uitspraak past wel redelijk in het gedachtengoed van Voltaire.”) For the wording’s provenance, the review points to a 1993 essay by Kevin Alfred Strom. It quotes Strom’s wording as “To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?” The review says this has essentially the same meaning as the version attributed to Voltaire. It also reports that Strom later wrote on his own platform that he, not Voltaire, wrote the widely shared saying, and referred to the same image shared in the Facebook post. (S1: “De echte bron is volgens The Guardian een essay uit 1993, geschreven door Kevin Alfred Strom. De exacte verwoording van Strom was als volgt: \"To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?\" De betekenis daarvan komt op hetzelfde neer als de quote die aan Voltaire werd toegeschreven.”; “Op datzelfde platform schreef Kevin Alfred Strom in 2017 een artikel waarin hij aangaf dat niet Voltaire, maar hijzelf de alom gedeelde quote schreef. Hij haalt zelfs de afbeelding die de gebruiker op Facebook ook deelde aan en nog talloze andere variaties van de uitspraak.”) The review further describes Strom as the owner of National Vanguard and reports that the site praises European ancestry and questions the Holocaust. It says Strom was charged in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2007 over possession of child pornography; according to a local outlet, he pleaded guilty, while denying that he was a neo-Nazi or supported white supremacy. These biographical details provide context about the person the review identifies, while the attribution evidence rests on the earlier essay and Strom’s later statement. (S1: “Volgens The Guardian en ABC News een witte nationalist die in 2007 in zijn woonplaats Charlottesville (Verenigde Staten) werd aangeklaagd voor het bezitten van kinderporno. Volgens een lokaal medium bekende hij schuld aan de aanklachten, maar ontkende hij een neonazi te zijn of witte suprematie aan te hangen.”; “Hij is volgens de eigen website echter nog steeds eigenaar van het online platform National Vanguard, dat onder andere het Europese ras verheerlijkt en vrij openlijk de Holocaust in twijfel trekt.”)

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: misinformation shared that congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrested in Gujarat

Publisher’s rating: Missing Context

The review examined a social-media claim that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had been arrested in Gujarat for driving while intoxicated. It reports that the claim circulated through a news card published by Kathir News, which users shared as though it referred to the Congress leader. The review says it searched Facebook and investigated who had actually been arrested for drunk driving in Gujarat. Its central finding is that the arrested person was a different Rahul Gandhi. According to the review, the shared card’s abbreviated naming, combined with the two people having the same name, led readers to confuse them. It also says the card’s framing had a political motive, though the supplied excerpt does not provide further evidence or detail for that allegation. The review therefore treats the viral claim as misleading, rather than evidence that the Congress leader was arrested. The excerpt lists links to India Today, OpIndia and other outlets, but does not include their reporting, so their contents cannot be assessed here. The explanation above is based on the original review’s own account of its search and finding.

FactcrescendoPolitics & government

மியன்மார் ஜனாதிபதி என பகிரப்படும் புகைப்படம் உண்மையா?

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerns a photograph shared online as showing Myanmar’s president, accompanied by a post saying it was divine justice for him. The review says that the image was circulated with a caption accusing him of using military force to torture an ethnic group, and notes that the post was uploaded on 24 July 2021. The investigation focused on whether the pictured person was actually the president: it used a Google reverse-image search on the circulating photo and found that it was not a picture of Myanmar’s president. The review traces the image to an online upload in 2013, titled as showing a woman in a narrow prison. It attributes that upload to a person named Officer Bimblebury on Wikimedia. As a comparison, the investigators searched for an image of Myanmar’s president and found a photograph from his first appearance in court after the military takeover. The review therefore concludes that the photo shared in the post was misidentified; it does not support the caption’s claim that the image depicts the president. The review also states that Myanmar’s president had been under house arrest by the military since February 2021. That is context reported by the review, distinct from the image-provenance evidence used to identify the person in the photograph.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Video of AP Congress leaders hitting each other during the recent Independence Day flag hoisting ceremony in Karimnagar

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video presented as showing AP Congress leaders hitting one another at a recent Independence Day flag-hoisting ceremony in Karimnagar. FACTLY’s review identifies the footage instead as an older Karimnagar incident involving YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) members, not Congress leaders or Andhra Pradesh. It says the event took place during the 2014 Independence Day celebrations in Karimnagar, Telangana. The review describes a reverse-image search of screenshots from the circulating video. It reports finding similar visuals in an ETV Andhra Pradesh video published on 15 August 2014, whose description identified a spat between YCP leaders at a Karimnagar flag-hoisting ceremony. The review also cites an NDTV report from 15 August 2014 about the incident. According to FACTLY’s account of the footage and contemporaneous reporting, YSRCP women leader Susheela, accompanied by her husband, was seen hitting Bhaskar Reddy, then the party’s Karimnagar district president. The review says Susheela was angry that Bhaskar Reddy had not informed her about party events and had denied her the district women’s-wing chief post. These details place the video in a party dispute from 2014, rather than the claimed recent AP Congress event.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Edappadi Palanisamy not challenged the DMK govt regarding corruption allegation

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns whether Edappadi Palanisamy challenged the DMK government over corruption allegations. Fact Crescendo’s review examines a viral news card circulated under his name in connection with his August 19, 2021, press interaction outside the governor’s residence. The card alleged that the DMK government was failing and engaging in corruption, collection of money and political revenge. The review says this was the authentic news card’s message, not the separate viral version claiming that Palanisamy said the DMK could not arrest his party while Narendra Modi was in power. To check the viral version, the review compared the circulated card with the original-style card published by Puthiya Thalaimurai on August 19, reviewed coverage of the press interaction from Puthiya Thalaimurai, Thanthi TV and other outlets, and searched for the full interview. It reports that neither the news reports nor the interview contained the alleged statement about being protected from arrest by Modi’s government. The review also says Puthiya Thalaimurai’s digital team confirmed that the circulated card was fake. The distinction matters: the false card replaced the wording of an actual card. The investigation therefore supports that Palanisamy did challenge the DMK government on corruption-related grounds, while finding that the more extreme quote about immunity from arrest was fabricated.