PeakMetrics / Fact Checks
Politics & government fact checks
Explore claims publishers have checked about politics & government. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.
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Search by text or image12,754 published reviews in this topic
Claim: BJP Annamalai speech was misunderstood
Publisher’s rating: False
The review examines social-media posts claiming that BJP leader K. Annamalai criticized the Tamil Nadu government’s Pongal gift by saying it was distributing money stolen from the public. It says Sun News initially reported that interpretation, but Annamalai objected that the channel had misunderstood and misrepresented his remarks. The review quotes his response: “Completely support @CMOTamilNadu’s Pongal announcement. I’m against cash for votes as a personal philosophy.” The review says Annamalai was speaking at a BJP meeting in Coimbatore about political parties allegedly using money to win votes, not condemning the government’s announced Pongal payment. It describes his point as a warning that parties including the DMK and AIADMK give voters money during elections, and says other media reported his remarks in that sense. The article also says it provided video evidence of his Coimbatore speech, though the excerpt does not include the video itself or an independent transcript of it. As evidence of the initial report’s correction, the review says Sun News deleted its post after Annamalai’s response. It also quotes him supporting the government’s increased Pongal payment, describing it as helpful during the COVID-19 period. The review therefore concludes that the viral interpretation conflated criticism of election-time vote-buying with criticism of the government’s Pongal gift.
Claim: This picture is not related with DMK hunger strike
Publisher’s rating: False
Claim: fake news card being as Justin Trudeau warned Modi
Publisher’s rating: False
The claim concerns a social-media news card attributed to Thanthi TV that said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had warned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to set foot in Canada. The review says the card was shared on Facebook on 18 December 2020 and prompted readers to ask whether it was genuine. It describes the card’s wording as: “தமிழர்களை தொடர்ந்து புறக்கணிக்கும் இந்திய பிரதமர் மோடி, இனி கனடா மண்ணில் கால் வைக்கக்கூடாது,”. (The review’s Tamil text gives the claim in the card.) The review reports checking the card’s appearance and language, looking for coverage of the alleged warning, and contacting Thanthi TV’s editorial team. It says the font and wording contained errors and that the reviewers found no media report of such a warning. Crucially, the review says Thanthi TV’s editors told them the card was fabricated: “தந்தி டிவி ஆசிரியர் குழுவை தொடர்பு கொண்டு கேட்டோம். அவர்கள், ‘’இது போலியாக தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட ஒன்று,’’ என்று தெரிவித்தனர்.” The review also places the card in the context of Trudeau’s recent remarks supporting farmers protesting in Delhi, which had drawn criticism from the Indian government. It suggests that this context may have been used to make the fabricated card seem plausible; it does not report that Trudeau actually issued the warning. The finding therefore rests on the outlet’s direct confirmation that its branded card was fake, alongside the review’s reported search for corroborating news coverage.
US President-elect Joe Biden called for the release of Ugandan opposition politician Bobi Wine (real name Robert Kyagulanyi).
Publisher’s rating: This is false. The man speaking is not Joe Biden, and the video is two years old.
Asked about his record in Parliament, opposition politician Bobi Wine answered "moderator, I do not have enough time here on radio, let's go to another question."
Publisher’s rating: Several details about the radio interview described in the posts are inaccurate.
Claim: Fake tweet shared as Nirmala Sitharaman mocked cooking gas consumers
Publisher’s rating: False
The claim concerned a news card circulated under the name of Puthiya Thalaimurai, attributing to Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman a remark that people unable to pay for cooking-gas cylinders should get used to cooking on firewood stoves. The review says a reader sent it to the fact-checker through WhatsApp, after which the team also found the card being shared on Facebook. The review’s conclusion is that the attributed statement was false. [S1]
SImples, porque Dória estava sucateando o órgão pra desvalorizar e privatizar pros chineses.
Publisher’s rating: Falso
Claim: Modi not greeted Gautam Adani wife
Publisher’s rating: False
Fact Crescendo examined a viral photograph shared with the claim that Modi was bowing to Gautam Adani’s wife. The review says the image was circulated with a caption identifying the woman as Adani’s wife, and notes that the same claim had circulated previously.
గౌతమ్ అదాని భార్య ప్రీతి అదాని కి వంగి వంగి నమస్కారం చేస్తున్న నరేంద్ర మోదీ
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
Claim: Misinformation shared as farmers supporting Pakistan and Imran Khan
Publisher’s rating: False
Image of PM Narendra Modi bowing to Gautam Adani’s wife Priti Adani
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
Government of India is going to provide 5 lakh rupees pension to widowed women under ‘PM Vidhva Mahila Samriddhi Yojana’
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerned a YouTube video saying the Government of India would deposit ₹5 lakh for widows under a scheme called “PM Vidhva Mahila Samriddhi Yojana.” The review states that it checked whether that named scheme existed, rather than assessing a different pension proposal: it reports finding no such scheme on the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s official website or in the National Repository of Information for Women (NARI).
«Il governo pochi minuti fa ha posto la fiducia al decreto Ristori. Siamo a quasi 30 fiducie in poco più di un anno. La classifica dei governi che hanno posto più fiducie su decreti (esautorando di fatto il Parlamento dalle sue funzioni) è così composta: Governo Renzi Governo Monti Governo Conte bis Governo Gentiloni Governo Letta. Tutti governi sostenuti dal Partito democratico»
Publisher’s rating: Nì
Staged photoshoot images of farmers protesting against the new farm legislation
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The post presented a collage as staged photoshoot pictures of farmers protesting against new farm legislation. FACTLY examined the images and concluded that they were old, not evidence of a staged photoshoot connected to the ongoing protest. Its account specifically identifies the photograph showing Rahul Gandhi with farmers as being from a Tamil Nadu farmers’ protest at Jantar Mantar in 2017.
पाकिस्तानी पत्रकार मोदी के बारे में बात करते हुए
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
Farmers disrespecting the national flag in the ongoing protests against the new farm legislation
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerned social-media photos presented as showing Sikh men insulting India’s national flag during the farmers’ protests against new farm legislation. Factly’s review examined the photos in those posts and concluded that they depicted different, earlier protests by members of the Sikh community in the United States—not the ongoing farmers’ protests in India. Its finding addresses the provenance of the circulated photos; it does not establish that no disrespect of the flag occurred at any farmers’ protest.
Video of BJP leaders getting thrashed by the public during the ongoing protests against new farm legislation
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerns a video presented as showing members of the public beating BJP leaders during protests against India’s new farm legislation. FACTLY’s review says the footage instead shows an attack on Dilip Ghosh, then West Bengal BJP president, in Darjeeling in 2017. It concludes that the video “has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protest over the new farm legislation.” To check the footage, the review says it performed a reverse image search on screenshots from the social-media post. It found similar visuals in a video posted by the NMF news channel on 6 October 2017. The description of that video identified Ghosh as having been manhandled by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJP) activists in Darjeeling. The review also cites a Hindustan Times article published on 5 October 2017, which reported that anti-Gurung agitators attacked him that day. The review places the incident in the context of Ghosh’s visit to Darjeeling to meet a faction of the Gurung movement and hold a Vijaya Sammilani programme. It says the Benoy-Tamang faction of the GJP allegedly attacked Ghosh and his supporters in an attempt to cancel the planned BJP meeting. Thus, the post’s presentation of the footage as a current farm-protest incident misidentifies both its event and its setting.