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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.

12,753 published reviews in this topic

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

FACT CHECK: අනුරගෙන් WHO අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්ට ලිපියක්?

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a purported letter from JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom. Posts alleged that the letter accused Sri Lankan officials of vaccine-related fraud, claimed Sri Lanka paid $15 for Sinopharm doses while China supplied them to other countries for about $5 less, and asked the WHO to investigate. The review describes the circulating letter as fabricated. (S1: “මෙහි දක්වා තිබුණේ, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ නායක අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා විසින් ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් Dr. Tedros Adhanom වෙතට ලිපියක් යොමු කර ඇති බවයි.”; “චීනයේ නිෂ්පාදිත සිනෝෆාර්ම් එන්නත ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඩොලර් 15 කට ලබා ගන්නා අතර චීනය අනෙක් රටවලට ඩොලර් 5 ක් පමණ අඩුවෙන් මෙම එන්නත ලබා දෙන බවටත්”) To check the allegation, the publisher says it found no major-media report about the supposed letter and consulted the JVP’s official Facebook page. That page identified the letter as a fake created to discredit the party, and the JVP media division also confirmed to the publisher that it was fabricated. The review’s conclusion is therefore about the authenticity of this specific letter, not an independent audit of vaccine prices or procurement. (S1: “අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානයට යොමු කළ බවට පැවසනෙ ලිපිය සම්බන්ධයෙක් කිසිඳු ප්‍රධාන මාධ්‍ය වාර්තාවක් දක්නට ලැබුනේ නැහැ.”; “ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ නිල ෆේස්බුක් පිටුවේ මෙම ලිපිය ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට මඩ ගැසීම සඳහා ව්‍යාජ ලෙස සැකසූ ලිපියක් බවට දක්වා තිබු බවයි.”; “ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ මාධ්‍ය අංශයද තහවුරු කළේ, මෙම ලිපිය ව්‍යාජ ලෙස සැකසූවක් බවයි.”)

Vera FilesPolitics & government

President Rodrigo Duterte fulfilled his promise to go to the South China Sea via jet ski and wave the Philippine flag

Publisher’s rating: False

Related reporting describes the unfulfilled promise at issue: former President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign pledge to ride a jetski in the West Philippine Sea and carry the Philippine flag. In coverage of a planned Atin Ito Coalition civilian mission, Akbayan representative Dadah Kiram Ismula referred explicitly to “the famous campaign promise” and said the ride would be done by the coalition instead. The reports said the coalition planned its fourth mission to the West Philippine Sea for April 30 to May 5, 2026. Its announced activities included a jetski ride near Pag-asa Island, with Ismula and youth volunteers expected to carry Philippine flags. Ismula described the ride as a response to Duterte’s promise, saying the promise “he did not fulfill—we will be the ones to do it.” This is related reporting, not the original Vera Files investigation, and the excerpts do not describe Vera Files’ research methods or provide independent documentation of the earlier promise. They do, however, directly characterize that promise as unfulfilled and report that others were planning the flag-carrying ride in its place. The excerpts establish the planned event, not whether it ultimately took place.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Die drei genannten Zitate stammen von Joschka Fischer.

Publisher’s rating: Nur das Zitat über deutsche Helden ist wirklich von Fischer. Die anderen Zitate über Deutschland werden ihm fälschlicherweise zugeschrieben oder sind ohne Beleg.

The review examined social-media posts sharing a newspaper clipping that attributed three statements to former vice-chancellor Joschka Fischer. It distinguishes the quotations individually: the statement about German heroes is supported by an earlier publication, but the other two statements about Germany do not have the same evidential basis. The review reports that one of those statements appears in a 2005 article by journalist Miriam Lau, which discusses Fischer’s book *Risiko Deutschland*; it is Lau’s statement, not Fischer’s. For the remaining quotation, alleging that Germany’s diligence and ability create problems that can be addressed by diverting its money, the review says it found no verifiable source attributing it to Fischer. It reports that searches by dpa, Correctiv and Mimikama did not locate a source. The review traced an early online appearance to a 2011 blog discussion, but says that the cited archived blog entry still did not identify where the words originated. Thus, the clipping combines one quotation the review identifies as authentic with two that it finds misattributed or unsupported.

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

এই ভিডিওতে ব্রেকিং নিউজের মাধ্যমে দাবি করা হয়েছে যে এই হিংসাত্মক ঘটনার পরিপ্রেক্ষিতে কলকাতা হাইকোর্ট মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের পদত্যাগ দাবি করেছেন।

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLYPolitics & government

The Supreme Court of India had ordered the Centre to rename India as ‘Bharat’ in all languages from 15 June 2021

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim under review said that the Supreme Court of India had ordered the Centre to rename the country “Bharat” in every language, with the change taking effect on 15 June 2021. FACTLY’s account traces the claim to a social-media post and checks it against the Court’s handling of a petition seeking a change to the country’s name. The review says the petition was filed in May 2020 and sought an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution. The decisive event was the Court’s action on 2 June 2020. According to the review, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India S. A. Bobde declined to direct a constitutional amendment and disposed of the petition. Rather than ordering the proposed renaming, the Court said the petition should be treated as a representation and asked the Centre to decide on it. The review also says the Court noted that the Constitution already calls India “Bharat.” Those details do not support the post’s claim of a binding order or a 15 June 2021 start date: the review reports no verdict in favour of renaming the country, and describes the petition’s referral to the Centre as a request for a decision, not an instruction to rename India. FACTLY therefore rated the claim false.

APA - Austrian Presse AgenturPolitics & government

Sebastian Kurz, Werner Kogler, Tourismusministerin Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP) und Kultur-Staatssekretärin Andrea Mayer (Grüne) haben bei einem Medientermin im Schweizerhaus gegen die neuen Corona-Maßnahmen verstoßen.

Publisher’s rating: Das ist falsch. Zum einen sind Politiker im Rahmen ihrer Berufstätigkeit sowieso von Covid-19-Verordnungen ausgenommen. Zum anderen ist der Besuch auch sonst mit allen gesetzlichen Richtlinien vereinbar gewesen.

The claim concerns a media appointment at the Schweizerhaus, a restaurant in Vienna’s Prater, where Sebastian Kurz, Werner Kogler, Elisabeth Köstinger and Andrea Mayer were accused of breaching newly eased COVID-19 rules. The APA says Austria had reopened parts of its economy, including gastronomy, on 19 May 2021. The posts’ specific objection was that people from four households were seated together, which they treated as proof that the politicians had disregarded the restrictions they had helped introduce. The APA assessed both whether the officials were covered by the rules and whether the gathering would have been prohibited for ordinary restaurant customers. It cites the applicable opening regulation: its §6 allowed restaurant operators to admit indoor groups of up to four people and outdoor groups of up to ten, with two metres’ distance between groups. It says the regulation did not limit how many households could make up a group. On that account, the allegation about four households at one table did not establish a breach of the restaurant rules. The article also distinguishes the officials’ professional role from their private conduct. It states that the COVID-19 regulations provided an exception for officials performing professional duties, and that the Schweizerhaus appointment would not have been forbidden even for ordinary customers under the group-size and household rules described. A 27 May note clarifies that Kurz and Kogler are executive, not legislative, officials, and says they were also covered by an exception in §19. The APA’s conclusion therefore rests on both the stated professional-duty exception and the rules governing restaurant groups, rather than on the claim that politicians were exempt in every circumstance.