Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Politics & government fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about politics & government. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

12,753 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

बनारस में आज प्रधान मंत्री मोदी जी | आज ही पूरे प्रदेश में सपा का धरना प्रदर्शन और आज ही यूपी वेस्ट के दौरे पर हैं AIMIM के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष और हम तमाम लोगों के महबूब लीडर असदुद्दीन ओवैसी साहब भी हैं

Publisher’s rating: False

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

වරකාපොළ හිටපු ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාපතිවරයෙකුට මෑතක දී ජනපති සමාව හිමිවුණා ද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerned a newspaper image circulating as if a former chairman of the Warakapola Pradeshiya Sabha had recently received a presidential pardon. The review identifies the person named in that report as Lakshman Pathiraja Samarasinha and says the post described him as having been sentenced to 18 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a bribery case. The review’s investigation focused on whether the reported pardon was a recent event or an older story being recirculated. (S1: “අල්ලස් චෝදනාවකට වරදකරු වී වසර 18 ක් බරපතල වැඩ සහිත සිර දඬුවමක් නියමවී සිටි වරකාපොළ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ හිටපු සභාපතිවරයාට ජනාධිපති සමාව ලැබී ඇති හෙයින්”) To check the report’s date, the reviewers searched for earlier coverage about the named person and examined whether the newspaper-style image had appeared in Lankadeepa in June 2019. They report finding the article on the newspaper’s front page dated June 11, 2019, and trace the pardon to former president Maithripala Sirisena’s time in office. This establishes that the event described was not a newly occurring pardon, but one from 2019. (S1: “එහිදී අපට පහත පරිදි 2019 ජුනි 11 වන දින පළවූ පුවත්පතේ මුල් පිටුවේ මෙම ලිපිය පලවී තිබු ආකාරය දැක ගන්නට ලැබුණා.”; “හිටපු ජනපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ ධුර කාලයේ දී හිටපු වරකාපොළ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාපතිවරයෙකු වූ ලක්ෂමන් පතිරාජ සමරසිංහ යන අයෙකුට ජනපති සමාව ලබාදුන් සිද්ධියක්”)

FACTLYPolitics & government

Photo of crowd welcoming Asaduddin Owaisi in UP

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photo circulated as showing a crowd welcoming Asaduddin Owaisi in Uttar Pradesh during preparations for the state’s 2022 Assembly elections. The investigation distinguishes that claim from the fact that Owaisi had begun campaign preparations and visited Sambhal and Moradabad: it says the photo itself was not from those visits or from a welcome for him in UP. To investigate the image, the fact-checker used reverse image search and found a YouTube video uploaded on 13 November 2019 with the title “Celebration procession Chittagong.” The review reports that the video contained visuals similar to those in the photo, including a procession van. It then searched for videos using relevant terms and found several videos of a religious procession in Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 2019. The review identifies the procession as Jashne Juluse Eid-E-Miladunnabi and reports finding a Facebook post published on 15 November 2019 with a video showing the same visual as the claimed photo. Together, the earlier video and matching visual place the image in a 2019 religious procession in Chittagong—not in an Owaisi welcome in Uttar Pradesh. The investigation therefore concludes that the photo was falsely linked to Owaisi’s UP campaign.

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

मोदींनी तीनही कृषी कायदे रद्द केले आहेत.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a viral post claiming that Narendra Modi had removed Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s ministry and that the three farm laws had been repealed. It reports that the post was shared on Facebook on 15 July 2021 and linked to a YouTube video. The review’s conclusion was that neither the minister’s removal nor repeal of the laws had occurred: “कृषि मंत्री नरेंद्र तोमर यांना काढण्यात आले नाही आणि तसेच तीन कृषी कायद्यांना रद्द करण्यात आले नाही.” The investigation examined the linked, eight-minute video. According to the review, the video speculated that Tomar might lose his position but did not say that he had already lost his ministry or that the laws had been repealed. Those assertions appeared in the video’s headline instead. The review says the video offered no concrete evidence for either claim, distinguishing its sensational headline from what the video itself established. The review also says it searched Google for reporting that could confirm the alleged major event but found none. It checked an official Indian government ministers list, updated on 7 July 2021, which still identified Tomar as a Cabinet-rank minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. A BJP spokesperson, Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga, also rejected the post as false. These checks addressed both parts of the viral post; the review reports no evidence that the laws had been repealed.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

FACT CHECK: රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහට බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය නයිට් පදවියක් ?

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned social-media posts saying that Ranil Wickremesinghe had been awarded a British knighthood, and that the proposal came from a British royal. The review describes a post claiming he would henceforth be known as “Sir Ranil Wickremesinghe” and says similar claims had circulated for years. Its conclusion addresses both whether he had received the honour and whether he had been proposed for it. [S1: “රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට නයිට් පදවිය ප්‍රදානය කළ යුතු බවට බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ඔටුන්න හිමි කුමරියගෙන් යෝජනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් වී තිබු බව දැක්වුණා.”; “මින් ඉදිරියට ඔහුව හඳුන්වන්නේ සර් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ යනුවෙනි.”] To check the claim, Fact Crescendo says it reviewed Wickremesinghe’s Wikipedia page and looked for reports in major domestic and international media. It also says it contacted his media division. According to the review, that office called the story false and confirmed he had not previously been proposed for the honour. The article further reports that it found no record of the knighthood on his Wikipedia page or in the media coverage it checked. [S1: “රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා නයිට් පදවිය ලැබූ බවට ඒ මහතා සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැක්වෙන විකිපීඩියා පිටුවේද සඳහන් නොවේ.”; “දෙස් විදෙස් ප්‍රධාන මාධ්‍ය ධාරාවලද, කිසිදු වාර්තාවකද සඳහනක් නොමැති බවට අපට නිරීක්ෂණය විය.”; “ඒ මහතා සඳහන් කළේ, මෙම පුවත අසත්‍ය පුවතක් බවයි. මීට පෙර හෝ මෙම පදවිය සඳහා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා යෝජනා වී හෝ නොතිබුණු බව ද අපට තහවුරු කර සිටියා.”] The review also checks details used in the posts to make the story appear credible. It says the claim that Arthur C. Clarke was the only Sri Lankan to receive a knighthood was misleading, and notes that the circulating image did not show a British royal proposing an honour: it identified the woman pictured with Wickremesinghe as the Queen of Belgium at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos. These points challenge the posts’ supporting context, while the review’s account of the media division’s response directly addresses the alleged proposal. [S1: “ඒ අනුව නයිට් පදවිය ලබා ගෙන තිබෙන්නේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ජාතික ද්විත්ව පුරවැසිභාවය හිමි ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මහතා පමණක් බවට ඉහත සමාජ මාධ්‍ය සටහන් වල දැක්වෙන ප්‍රකාශය ද නොමඟ යවන සුළුය.”; “ඉහත සටහන සඳහා යොදාගෙන තිබූ ඡායාරූපය 2016 ජනවාරි 20 සිට 23 දක්වා ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේ ඩාවෝස් හි පැවැත්වූ ලෝක ආර්ථික සංසදයේ ආරම්භක දිනයේදී ‘ක්‍රිස්ටල් සම්මාන උළෙල’ සඳහා සහභාගී වූ බෙල්ජියම් රැජිණ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා සමග කතාබහක යෙදෙන අයුරු”]

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

আপত্তিজনক দাবি নিয়ে রাষ্ট্রপতি রামনাথ কোবিন্দের একটি ছবি স্যোশাল মিডিয়াতে শেয়ার করা হচ্ছে। এই ছবিতে, ইউপি এর গভর্নর আনন্দীবেন প্যাটেল এবং সিএম যোগী আদিত্যনাথ রাষ্ট্রপতি কোবিন্দের সাথে উপস্থিত রয়েছেন। ছবিতে দেখানো রাষ্ট্রপতি কোবিন্দের শারীরিক অঙ্গভঙ্গি ভুয়া জাতিবাদি অ্যাঙ্গেলে ভাইরাল করা হচ্ছে।

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYPolitics & government

Video of thousands of Cubans demonstrating in a protest against the ruling Communist party government in Cuba

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video circulated as showing thousands of Cubans protesting Cuba’s ruling Communist party government. The review places it against the protests of 11 July 2021, which it says were driven by the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and a grave economic crisis. It concludes, however, that the video being shared does not depict those protests: it shows Argentine football fans celebrating their team’s Copa América victory in Buenos Aires. The review specifically locates the gathering at the Obelisco landmark. To check the footage, the review says it performed a reverse image search on screenshots from the video. That search found a similar video in a tweet posted on 12 July 2021 and attributed to a user who described it as a Cuban protest. The review reports that responses to the tweet corrected that identification, saying the video showed Argentine fans celebrating in Buenos Aires. It also cites a similar video published by the Guardian Football YouTube channel, whose description identifies it as Argentinians celebrating the Copa América victory in Buenos Aires. The review further reports finding a similar video on the Tuitealo news channel’s YouTube account, described as celebrations at the Obelisk, and says other news websites shared similar footage. It compares the landmark visible in the clip with images of the Obelisco in Buenos Aires. Taken together, the review’s described checks identify the footage as victory celebrations in Argentina, not video of the Cuban demonstrations. The review therefore finds that the video was miscaptioned when linked to the protests.