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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

FACTLYPolitics & government

Banners demanding restoration of article 370 & 35A in Jammu & Kashmir and repealing of UAPA Act displayed in ongoing farmer’s protest

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a specific image: it was presented as showing participants in the ongoing farmers’ protest displaying a banner demanding restoration of Articles 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir and repeal of the UAPA. The review’s conclusion turns on the image’s provenance, rather than on whether those demands existed elsewhere: it says the image was old and unrelated to the farmers’ protest over the farm bills. (S1: “A post accompanying an image of protesters holding a banner demanding restoration of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu & Kashmir and repealing of UAPA Act is being widely shared across social media platforms linking it to the ongoing farmers’ protest.”; “This is an old image. The same image was shared by a Facebook user back in 2019. This image has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protest against the new farm bills.”) To check the image’s history, the review reports using a Google reverse image search with customized keywords. That search led to a Facebook post from 2019 sharing the same image, establishing that the image predated the protest claim by at least a year. The review also says it found no recent news report of protesting farmers making the demands described in the post. Together, these points support its finding that an old image was being misrepresented as documentation of the ongoing protest. (S1: “Google reverse image search of the photo coupled with keyword customization led us to a 2019 Facebook post which shared the same image. This establishes that the image is old and is available on internet at least for a year.”; “Further, we did not find any latest news article reporting about the protesting farmers’ demand for restoration of article 370 & 35A in Jammu & Kashmir and repealing of UAPA Act.”)

FACTLYPolitics & government

Protesters holding Pro-Khalistan and anti-India placards in farmer’s protest.

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned a set of images circulating as evidence that protesters with pro-Khalistan and anti-India placards were present at the farmers’ protest against India’s new farm laws. FACTLY’s investigation found that the images did not document that protest: it reports that several predated it, including images from 2016 and 2013, and concludes that the set was misleadingly attributed to the farmers’ demonstrations. For the first image, the review used reverse-image search to find earlier news coverage. That coverage described the image as showing a Sikh diaspora demonstration in 2018, associated with Sikhs for Justice’s proposal for a referendum on Punjab’s independence. The review says that further 2019 and 2020 articles carrying the same image established that it was old. For the second image, reverse-image search led to a 2018 article; a search of Getty Images then identified it as a rally at United Nations Headquarters in New York on October 11, 2016, protesting conflict between India and Pakistan. The review traced the third image through an article crediting AFP and then to the same image on Getty Images. Its caption placed it at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on June 29, 2013, on the 29th anniversary of Operation Blue Star. The fourth image also appeared in a November 29, 2020 news article about the ongoing farmers’ protest, but the review does not say that this establishes the other images’ connection to that event. Its overall finding is that old, unrelated images were presented as if they showed the farmers’ protest.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Erst den «harten Lockdown» beschließen, dann gemeinsam Glühwein trinken? Ein Foto soll belegen, dass acht deutsche Ministerpräsidenten ohne Abstand und Masken eng beieinander stehen - «heute Morgen, nachdem der Shutdown live im TV verkündet wurde», wie es in einem Facebook-Beitrag vom 13. Dezember 2020 heißt (hier archiviert).

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Das Foto wurde im Dezember 2019 aufgenommen - lange bevor die Corona-Pandemie ausbrach und in Deutschland Einschränkungen galten.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Sikh protesters raising pro-Khalistan slogans and making anti-India comments during the ongoing farm protests

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media collage presented as showing two scenes from the ongoing farmers’ protests: Sikh protesters raising pro-Khalistan slogans and an elderly man making anti-India comments. FACTLY investigated the two clips separately and reported that neither depicted the farm protests. For the first clip, the review says reverse-image searches led to a similar, higher-resolution video shared in 2019. It describes visual clues in that version—including placards referring to Modi and New York—and says searches found reports of a rally outside the UN headquarters in New York during Modi’s 2019 UN General Assembly speech. The review also compared the protesters’ shirts and the building in the background with material from that rally, concluding that the clip came from that event rather than the farmers’ protest. For the second clip, FACTLY traced a matching image to a 2019 news article and then found a longer version of the video. It says the elderly man was speaking on a street talk show by the YouTube channel Naya Pakistan about the opening of the Kartarpur corridor. The review therefore identified the anti-India comments as coming from a separate video, not from the ongoing farmers’ protest. Its conclusion rests on tracing each component of the collage to earlier, unrelated footage.

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

ట్విట్టర్ యూజర్ ‘Ujjal Adhikary‘ ఢిల్లీలో కొనసాగుతున్న రైతు ఉద్యమానికి సంబంధించినదని పేర్కొంటూ ఈ ఫోటోను షేర్‌ చేశారు

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a photo shared by Twitter user Ujjal Adhikary as showing the farmers’ movement then taking place in Delhi. Vishvas News investigated the image and concluded that it was not from that movement: its account traces the photo to a farmers’ gathering at Azad Maidan in Mumbai during Maharashtra’s 2018 long march. The review says it found the image through reverse-image search in earlier reporting and on the People’s Archive of Rural India website, and that this earlier use identified the gathering’s location and date. [S1: “ట్విట్టర్ యూజర్ ‘Ujjal Adhikary‘ ఢిల్లీలో కొనసాగుతున్న రైతు ఉద్యమానికి సంబంధించినదని పేర్కొంటూ ఈ ఫోటోను షేర్‌ చేశారు”; “ఈ ఫోటో మార్చి 12, 2018 న ముంబైలోని ఆజాద్ మైదానంలో జరిగిన రైతుల సభలో సేకరించారు.”] The review describes checking the photo’s provenance rather than relying only on the caption attached to the viral post. It reports finding the image in a June 2018 article on The Wire and on the People’s Archive of Rural India site, then finding a differently angled version on the All India Kisan Sabha’s official Twitter account. The review says the accompanying information for that post also placed the image at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. [S1: “ది వైర్ వెబ్‌సైట్‌లో 23 జూన్ 2018న ప్రచురించిన వార్తా కథనంలో ఈ ఫోటోను కనుగొన్నాము”; “12 మార్చి 2018 న ఆల్ ఇండియా కిసాన్ సభ (@KisanSabha) యొక్క అధికారిక ట్విట్టర్ హ్యాండిల్‌లో కొంచెం భిన్నమైన కోణంతో అదే ఫోటోను మేము కనుగొన్నాము. ఫోటోతో పాటు అందించిన సమాచారం ప్రకారం, ఈ ఫోటో ముంబైలోని ఆజాద్ మైదాన్‌లో తీసినది.”] As further context for the event identification, the review cites reporting that on March 12, 2018, farmers had arrived in Mumbai from Nashik for a march organized by the All India Kisan Sabha, demanding a loan waiver. It also says three Dainik Jagran reporters covering farmer demonstrations at Delhi-area locations confirmed that the viral image did not show the then-current Delhi protest. Together, the image’s earlier provenance and the reported event details support identifying it as a 2018 Mumbai image, not a photograph of the Delhi movement described in the post. [S1: “12 మార్చి 2018 న ‘ఎకనామిక్ టైమ్స్’ వెబ్‌సైట్‌లో ప్రచురించిన ఒక కథనం ప్రకారం, మహారాష్ట్ర అసెంబ్లీ ముట్టడి కోసం ఈ రోజు (12 మార్చి 2018) ముంబైకి చేరుకున్న 40,000 మంది రైతులు. రుణమాఫీ డిమాండ్‌తో అఖిల భారత కిసాన్ సభ ఆధ్వర్యంలో రైతుల కవాతు నాసిక్ నుంచి ముంబై చేరుకుంది.”; “ఈ వైరల్ ఫోటో ప్రస్తుత రైతుల ఆందోళనకు సంబంధించినది కాదని.. సింధు సరిహద్దును కవర్ చేసే రిపోర్టర్ సోను రానా, ఢిల్లీ-యుపి సరిహద్దులో రైతుల పనితీరును నివేదిస్తున్న ఆశిష్ గుప్తా, సీనియర్ రిపోర్టర్ షుజావుద్దీన్ ధృవీకరించారు.”]

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ ප්‍රධාන ක්‍රියාකාරීන් අළලා සමාජ මාධ්‍ය තල හුවමාරු වු අසත්‍ය සටහන් පෙලක්! Series of newspaper edits and false claims targeting JVP leaders

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examined a series of social-media posts that attributed statements to JVP figures Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Nalinda Jayatissa and Bimal Rathnayake, along with posts presented as JVP positions. Among the examples were alleged newspaper quotations about a coronavirus remedy, government contracts and schoolchildren, as well as images purporting to show an LTTE commemoration in northern Sri Lanka. The review concluded that the collection included fabricated or altered posts, rather than genuine newspaper statements or party positions. Fact Crescendo said it contacted the JVP media unit. The party representative said the posts concerning the three named figures had been made by falsely editing images of actual newspaper coverage, and that the leaders had not made the offensive statements attributed to them. The review also reports that the media coordinator said the posts about spitting at health workers in Atulugama and a purported coronavirus pill were false. The investigation compared the circulated images with identifiable source material. For Dissanayake, it traced the genuine image to an interview in Mawbima dated November 4, 2020, and said the altered version differed from the newspaper item. For Jayatissa, it identified the source as a Silumina article published November 21, 2020, about the new US president and Sri Lanka. For Rathnayake, it traced the image to an item in Lanka published on August 16. In a separate image check, photographs used in a post claiming an LTTE commemoration in northern Sri Lanka were matched to images of a commemoration in Britain, not the claimed location.