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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.

12,754 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Old video of Vanathi Srinivasan being circulated now

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

Fact Crescendo examined a video of BJP leader Vanathi Srinivasan saying not to vote for AIADMK candidates. The video was shared on Facebook on March 7, 2021, with a caption presenting her remarks as a current outburst against “AIADMK slaves.” The review reports that the clip shows her saying, in effect, that people should not vote for such “slaves,” and asks whether that was a recent statement.

dpaPolitics & government

Jesse Klaver beweert zus te hebben, maar zegt ook enig kind te zijn.

Publisher’s rating: Groenlinks-leider Jesse Klaver heeft halfzussen en een halfbroer. De video waarin hij verklaart enig kind te zijn komt uit het begin van 2017. Toen had hij geen contact met zijn vader en mogelijk ook nog niet met zijn halfzus. Dat hij toen aangaf enig kind te zijn, is in die context dus niet vreemd. De zus is niet onder ‘Klaver’ in het BIG-register te vinden omdat zij niet dezelfde achternaam draagt.

The claim arose from a video juxtaposing two statements: Klaver referred to his sister during the 2021 RTL election debate, while an older clip showed him saying he was an only child. The review says the juxtaposition circulated with a post mocking the apparent contradiction and an image showing no results for “Klaver” in the healthcare-provider BIG register. The debate took place on 28 February 2021, and Klaver described his sister as a doctor working on a COVID ward. (S1: “In een video wordt een uitspraak die hij in het debat deed over zijn zus, arts op een covid-afdeling, opgevolgd door een video waarin Klaver zegt enig kind te zijn.”; “De stelling was onderdeel van het RTL Verkiezingsdebat van 28 februari 2021.”) The review identifies the “only child” clip as coming from a PowNed interview on 21 February 2017, before Klaver’s mother died in late April that year. It reports that Klaver had a half-sister and half-brother through his father, but had spent much of his life out of contact with them. It cites an AD account of an RTL interview saying he had already reconnected with a half-sister, through whom he later re-established contact with his father. (S1: “Het fragment waarin Klaver zelf zegt enig kind te zijn, komt uit een interview met de zender PowNed van 21 februari 2017. Dit fragment is van voordat zijn moeder overleed, eind april van dat jaar.”; “Klaver had het grootste deel van zijn leven geen contact met hen.”; “Klaver kreeg al eerder contact met een halfzusje. Via haar kreeg hij na de dood van zijn moeder contact met zijn vader,”) The account also quotes the GroenLinks website saying that since his mother’s death in 2017, Klaver had been back in contact with his father and his Moroccan-Dutch brother and sisters. It explains the register search by noting that Klaver bears his mother’s surname, so his sister does not share the surname “Klaver.” Thus, the clips refer to different moments in a changing family-contact history, and the surname search does not establish that he had no sister. (S1: “Sinds het overlijden van zijn moeder in 2017, heeft Jesse weer contact met zijn vader en zijn Marokkaans-Nederlandse broertje en zusjes”; “Omdat Klaver de naam van zijn moeder draagt, delen hij en zijn zus niet dezelfde achternaam.”)

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: BJP leader Murugan not made this statement

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerns a viral news card attributing to Tamil Nadu BJP leader L. Murugan the remark that sexual-assault cases against BJP members would not affect the party’s electoral success. The review identifies the card as appearing to be from Thanthi TV and says it was shared by the Facebook page தமிழர்களின் சங்கமம் on March 3, 2021. The review’s investigation focused on whether Murugan had actually made the statement and whether the card was authentic. [S1: “அதில், ‘பாஜகவினர் மீதான கற்பழிப்பு வழக்குகள் எங்கள் வெற்றியை பாதிக்காது – தமிழக பாஜக தலைவர் முருகன்’ என்று இருந்தது. இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டை தமிழர்களின் சங்கமம் என்ற ஃபேஸ்புக் பக்கம் 2021 மார்ச் 3 அன்று பகிர்ந்துள்ளது.”] The fact-check says it searched for reports of Murugan giving such an interview, including looking for reports dated March 3, the date printed on the card, and found none. It then contacted an official in the Tamil Nadu BJP media division, who said the card was fake. [S1: “குறிப்பாக இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டில் 2021 மார்ச் 3 என்று குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளதால் அந்த தேதியில் அவர் அப்படி எதுவும் பேசியுள்ளாரா என்று கூகுளில் தேடினோம். நமக்கு அப்படி எந்த ஒரு செய்தியும் கிடைக்கவில்லை. எனவே, தமிழக பா.ஜ.க ஊடகப் பிரிவு நிர்வாகி ஒருவரைத் தொடர்புகொண்டு கேட்ட போது இது போலியானது என்றார்.”] The decisive authenticity check reported in the review was against Thanthi TV’s own Facebook page: the fact-check says the broadcaster had posted that the card was fake. It concludes that it found no report of Murugan making the alleged statement and that Thanthi TV confirmed the card was fabricated. The evidence described therefore addresses both the attribution and the purported broadcaster provenance; the excerpt does not provide an interview recording or further details about how the fake card was produced. [S1: “தந்தி டி.வி ஃபேஸ்புக் பக்கத்தை ஆய்வு செய்தபோது, இந்த நியூஸ் கார்டு போலியானது என்று குறிப்பிட்டு தந்தி டி.வி-யில் ஒரு பதிவு வெளியிட்டிருந்தது நமக்கு கிடைத்தது. அசல் பதிவைக் காண: Facebook I Archive பாஜக-வினர் மீதான பாலியல் வழக்குகள் எங்கள் வெற்றியை பாதிக்காது என்று எல்.முருகன் கூறியதாக எந்த ஒரு செய்தியும் கிடைக்கவில்லை, இது போலியான நியூஸ் கார்டு என்று தந்தி டிவி உறுதி செய்துள்ளது.”]

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: 2016 dated Amit Shah statement being circulated as fresh narrative

Publisher’s rating: Missing Context

The review examined a social-media screenshot attributing to Amit Shah the statement that ₹20,000 crore had been stolen through sand mining under the AIADMK government. It focused on whether the screenshot was genuine and, crucially, whether it was a recent statement. The review says the version being shared did not identify when the tweet was posted, while a Facebook post published by Saravana Kumar on March 2, 2021, circulated it without saying it was an old tweet. To check its date, the reviewers say they searched Twitter by typing the wording of the post. They found the statement on the Tamil Nadu BJP Twitter account in material associated with the 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly election. The review also places that finding in the election’s political context: the BJP and AIADMK contested separately in 2016, before joining forces after Jayalalithaa’s death. It describes the BJP as having criticized the AIADMK government during that earlier period. The review’s conclusion is that the tweet was genuine but dated from 2016, not a new criticism by Shah in 2021. Thus, sharing the screenshot as a current statement omitted context that substantially changed its meaning. The review cautions that specifying the 2016 date would have avoided confusion; it does not conclude that the tweet itself was fabricated.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Video zeigt aktuelle Proteste in Spanien, die Medien verschweigen das

Publisher’s rating: Das Video stammt von 2019 und hat mit der Corona-Pandemie folglich nichts zu tun. Medien berichteten damals über die Demonstrationen und berichten auch heute über aktuelle Proteste.

The posts described in the review circulated an overhead video of street demonstrations in Spain and presented it as showing current events. One post said that Spain was resisting and that the demonstrations were being “silenced” by the media; another claimed there was a civil war. Some users connected the footage to protests against COVID-19 measures. The investigation instead found that the video had been uploaded to YouTube on 27 October 2019, so it did not depict the current pandemic-related demonstrations claimed in those posts. [S1]