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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: This tweet on Amit Shah not posted by Sasikala

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a screenshot of a tweet attributed to Sasikala, saying that Amit Shah had telephoned her and that she had insulted him. Fact Crescendo reports that the screenshot circulated after a Facebook page shared it on March 2, 2021. The review says Sasikala did not have social-media accounts, and notes that fake Twitter accounts had repeatedly posted in her name. To identify the account behind this particular tweet, the review says it searched Twitter using the account ID and found the tweet under the account it had previously linked to another false post attributed to Sasikala. That earlier post claimed she would attend M.K. Stalin’s swearing-in ceremony. The account’s own profile described it as a parody account, and the review says it also posted against the AIADMK and BJP. On that basis, the review concluded that Sasikala had not posted the Amit Shah tweet; the screenshot’s attribution to her was false.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Misinformation shared that BJP woman MP falls down in drainage while inauguration

Publisher’s rating: False

The viral post claimed that BJP MP Poonam Madam fell into a drain when a newly built drainage project was inaugurated in Gujarat. The review says the post described a “10 crore” project covering “10 meter” and presented a video of a woman falling through a slab as footage of that inauguration. The investigation found no evidence that the incident happened at a project opening. Instead, the review traced the video to an incident in Jamnagar in 2016. It reports that Poonam Madam was speaking to residents during an anti-encroachment operation when a slab broke beneath her, and she fell into an eight-foot-deep drain. The review says contemporary reporting described her presence in connection with the demolition dispute, not an inauguration. It also notes that the video shows building debris, which it considered consistent with the reported anti-encroachment setting. To check the claim, the publisher says it searched Google using keywords about a Gujarat woman MP falling into a drain and found coverage from The Hindu and The News Minute, among other outlets. On that evidence, it concluded that the footage was misrepresented: the fall occurred during the 2016 anti-encroachment operation, not at the claimed drainage-project inauguration.

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

கொல்கத்தாவின் பிரிகேட் மைதானத்தில் நடைபெற்ற இடதுசாரிகளின் மேற்கு வங்கப் பேரணியை, உலகின் மிகப்பெரிய அமைதியான அரசியல் கூட்டமாக BBC நியூஸ் அறிவிப்பது போன்று ஒரு வைரல் புகைப்படம் காட்டுகிறது. இந்த இடுகையின் காப்பகப்படுத்தப்பட்ட பதிப்பை இங்கே காணலாம்.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Fake tweet being circulated that Sasikala criticized ADMK alliance

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examines a tweet shared as Sasikala’s, saying “BJP + PMK + EPS” was an anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim alliance. It reports that a screenshot of the tweet circulated with a caption suggesting it showed political allies were worried, and that Hassan Waha posted it on March 1, 2021. The review’s question was whether Sasikala had actually posted the statement or whether the tweet was fabricated. To check the attribution, Fact Crescendo says it searched Twitter and found an account named Sasikala Natarajan. It compared that account with one that had previously posted a tweet claiming Sasikala would attend Stalin’s swearing-in ceremony. The review says it was the same account, whose name had changed from “V.K. Sasikala” to “Sasikala Natarajan”; it also found the disputed alliance tweet on the account, dated February 28, 2021. The review then relies on its earlier investigation, which had identified that account as fake. It says Sasikala’s representatives had told it that she had no Twitter or Facebook accounts, and describes changes to the account’s profile: disclaimers such as “for satire” and references to “A2” and “next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,” along with removed profile descriptions and a removed cover image. On that basis, the review concludes that the account did not belong to Sasikala and that the criticism was falsely attributed to her.

dpaPolitics & government

Video toont dat in Spanje de opstand is begonnen.

Publisher’s rating: Het bericht is onwaar. Hoewel er in Spanje ook protesten aan de gang zijn, toont de gedeelde video een betoging in Argentinië. Die betoging vond niet nu, maar in december 2017 plaats. Ook mist het bericht context. De betogingen in Spanje ontstonden naar aanleiding van de arrestatie van de Catalaanse rapper Pablo Hasél.

The claim attached the video to current unrest in Spain. The review describes the footage as showing police being pelted by a crowd, but says the location and timing in the post were both wrong: it was a demonstration in Argentina in December 2017, not a current Spanish protest. The review links that Argentine unrest to major pension cuts. (S1: “De betoging die te zien is, vond plaats in december 2017 in Argentinië. Dat valt te lezen op verschillende websites en op de sociale media van Argentijnse politici. Door forse besparingen op de pensioenen vonden toen over heel het land hevige protesten plaats.”) The account of how the video was checked is specific: the investigators searched screenshots from the clip with Google and found that the footage had circulated before the post. They point to a Croatian news site, 24Sata, which had shared a story with the video on 4 December 2020. That earlier appearance supports the conclusion that the footage was not newly recorded for the Spanish events, although the review says the clip itself depicts an Argentine demonstration from 2017. (S1: “Wie screenshots van het filmpje door Google haalt, vindt al snel dat het om een iets oudere betoging gaat. De Kroatische nieuwswebsite 24Sata deelde op 4 december 2020 al een verhaal van een vrouw die bij het ministerie van Toerisme en Sport werkt en complottheorieën zou delen.”) The review also distinguishes the misleading video from real protests in Spain at the time. It says thousands of people, mostly young, demonstrated in several Spanish cities after the arrest of Catalan rapper Pablo Hasél. The excerpt says protesters objected to his conviction over lyrics and saw it as an infringement of freedom of expression. That separate context helps explain how genuine Spanish demonstrations could lend plausibility to a post that had attached unrelated, older footage to them. (S1: “In verschillende Spaanse steden kwamen duizenden (voornamelijk jonge) mensen op straat uit protest tegen de arrestatie van de Catalaanse rapper Pablo Hasél.”)

FACTLYPolitics & government

Video of Congress MLA Anil Upadhyay praising PM Modi and his initiatives

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a social-media video presented as showing Congress MLA Anil Upadhyay praising Prime Minister Modi and his initiatives. It identifies the person in the video as Mohan Chandra Pandey instead, and reports that he is not a Congress MLA; it also says its search found no Congress MLA by the name Anil Upadhyay. To identify the man, the review describes searching the internet for the video and finding similar videos featuring the same person, with posts tagging “@M0hanPandey.” It then says it checked Mohan Chandra Pandey’s Facebook and Twitter profiles, where he had posted the same video in December 2019. The review also reports that a separate video on those profiles identified him as a Zonal Sales Manager at Everest Masala. The review adds that Pandey had tweeted in April 2019 that Republic TV had wrongly identified him as Congress leader Anil Upadhyay, and that he described himself as a Modi fan. It also says its search of the My Neta website returned two people named Anil Upadhyay, neither belonging to the Indian National Congress. These checks support the review’s distinction between the man shown in the video and the political identity assigned to him in the post.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Images showing large crowd gathering in a recent meeting organized by Congress and Left parties

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned images circulating as showing a large crowd at a recent meeting organized by Congress and Left parties in Kolkata. FACTLY’s review identifies the scene as a different event: a 2019 public gathering organized by Left Front parties at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. It says the Congress party’s official Twitter handle also shared an image with a similar claim, but reports that the pictures were not from the recent meeting in which Congress participated. (“A post accompanying a couple of images of a large gathering is being shared widely across social media platforms with a claim that the image shows the crowd from the latest meeting held by Congress and Left parties in Kolkata.”; “The image actually shows a large public gathering for a meeting organized by left-front parties in Kolkata’s Brigade parade ground back in 2019.”; “Although the Left parties held a meeting recently in which the Congress party also participated, these images are not related to that meeting.”) To check the image, the review describes using reverse image search, which led to a 2019 news article publishing the same photograph. It then reports finding a post from the CPI (M) West Bengal unit dated 10 June 2020, sharing the image with the caption “A bird eye view of last year Birgade Rally at Kolkata”. FACTLY says that caption indicated the photograph was from the 2019 meeting, not the recent one. (“Reverse image search of the photo in the post led us to a 2019 news article that published the same image.”; “The tweet shared the same image with the caption ‘A bird eye view of last year Birgade Rally at Kolkata’.”; “This implies that the image is actually of the 2019 meeting.”) The review also says further searches found multiple reports of the 2019 meeting and that those reports, together with the image matches, established the images were unrelated to the recent Congress–Left gathering. The key distinction is between two events at the same Kolkata venue: a 2019 Left Front rally, which the images depict, and a later meeting attended by Congress, which they do not depict. (“Further Google search with relevant keywords led us to multiple news articles which reported this particular meeting back in 2019.”; “All these establish that the image in the post is not related to the recent meeting.”)

FACTLYPolitics & government

Video of the RSS mega rally protesting the PFI march held in Kerala

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video presented as showing RSS workers protesting a PFI march in Kerala. FACTLY says the footage was not from that event: it shows an RSS parade during a ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Sibiram’ programme in Hyderabad, held on 25 December 2019. The distinction is central to the review’s finding: the video depicts a real parade, but it was misrepresented as footage of a different event and place. To investigate, FACTLY reports using reverse image searches and searching for the video with relevant keywords. It found similar visuals posted on social media in 2019 and the same footage in a video published by Desh Gujarat. That video’s description identified the parade as part of the Hyderabad programme. FACTLY also says ANI shared pictures of the rally and that the same visuals appeared in news articles and Telugu news-channel videos. The review separately describes the Kerala PFI rally that was linked to the claim. According to the news reports it cites, the event was in Malappuram, and the PFI leader Anees Ahmed said the role-play represented a fight between the British and Malabar people in 1921. This background does not make the Hyderabad parade footage evidence of a protest against that rally; the review’s comparison of the footage’s earlier provenance and event identification is what addresses the claim.