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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: AAP Haryana rally video being shared as bata not issued for delhi farmer protest

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim attached the video to Delhi’s farmers’ protest, alleging that people shown fighting had been promised ₹350 to participate and were arguing because they had not been paid. Fact Crescendo reports that the footage shows Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members, not farmers fighting over that alleged payment. It says the party name and Arvind Kejriwal’s image were visible on their clothing. The review also notes that farmers participating in the Delhi protest were largely Sikh, while the people in the video were identifiable as AAP members; those observations helped distinguish the people shown from the claim’s description of them. The review’s central provenance finding is that the same video had circulated online from 2018. It places the footage at an AAP rally led by Arvind Kejriwal in Hisar, Haryana, in March 2018. Allegations at the time said party workers had been brought to attend for money and that some had not received the promised amount. The review says it found earlier media coverage of that dispute. Thus, the footage relates to an earlier AAP event, not the later Delhi farmers’ protest; the review concludes that presenting it as evidence of the ₹350 claim misrepresented its setting.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: BJP members protested in front of Canara Bank to condemn Justin Trudeau

Publisher’s rating: False

The post presented a photograph of BJP members protesting as showing a demonstration in front of Canara Bank in Uttar Pradesh against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The review says this interpretation was shared in connection with Trudeau’s comments supporting farmers protesting India’s agricultural laws, and notes that the post itself described the scene as a protest outside Canara Bank.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Immer noch kursieren in Sozialen Netzwerken Verschwörungstheorien, wonach der im März 2020 erste Corona-bedingte Lockdown in Österreich bereits länger im Vorfeld geplant war. Als Beleg dafür sieht etwa ein Facebook-User, dass «laut Firmenbuch die Covid-19- Finanzierungsagentur GmbH» bereits am 10. Februar 2020 gegründet worden sei (hier archiviert). «In Österreich wusste man anscheinend bereits Anfang Februar bestens über den bevorstehenden Lockdown Bescheid», schreibt der User.

Publisher’s rating: Der Eintrag im FirmenABC stimmt zwar, das frühe Gründungsdatum der Finanzierungsagentur ist aber auf eine zuvor gegründete Vorratsgesellschaft zurückzuführen, die mit Corona noch nichts zu tun hatte. Erst am 27. März 2020 - also eineinhalb Wochen nach Beginn des ersten Lockdowns (16. März) - wurde diese von der bundeseigenen Abbaumanagementgesellschaft ABBAG gekauft und am 31. März 2020 in «COVID-19 Finanzierungsagentur des Bundes GmbH» (COFAG) umbenannt.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Rajasthan women rallied in solidarity with farmers’ protest.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY investigated a social-media post showing a woman driving a tractor carrying women. The post presented the image as showing women from Rajasthan rallying in solidarity with the farmers’ protest. The review’s central finding is that the photograph depicts a different protest, in a different place and year: Jat women agitating for reservation in Rohtak, Haryana, in 2017. Its conclusion is that the image does not support the claim about a Rajasthan rally for farmers. The review describes using reverse image search to trace the photograph. That search led to a 2017 news article carrying the same image, which identified the women as Jat protesters seeking reservation in Rohtak. FACTLY also found the image in a news-agency listicle that likewise connected it to Jat protests over reservation in Haryana. These matches provide the basis for identifying the image’s earlier context rather than relying only on the social-media post’s description. FACTLY adds that it could not find news articles about a Rajasthani women’s tractor rally in solidarity with the ongoing farmers’ protest. That absence is supplementary to the image-provenance evidence; the decisive point in the review is the identification of the same image with the 2017 Rohtak protest, not merely the lack of other reporting about a rally.

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

பேஸ்புக் பக்கம், ஒரு பெண் தன் கையில் மர கம்புடன் காவல்துறையினருக்கு முன்னால் நிற்கும் புகைப்படத்தை வெளியிட்டு, விவசாயிகளின் போராட்டத்தில் இவர் பங்கேற்கிறார் என்று எழுதியுள்ளது.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා සිදුකල ප්‍රකාශයක් බව පෙන්වන ව්‍යාජ සංස්කරණයක්

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The claim concerns social-media images presenting a Lankadeepa newspaper story as reporting that Patali Champika Ranawaka said his victory was secured by Tamil and Muslim votes, and that those communities trusted him. The investigation says that it checked whether such a story appeared in the Lankadeepa issue dated 2 December 2020. It found no story of that kind in the paper: “එහිදී අනාවරණය වුනේ මේ ආකාරයේ පුවතක් ලංකාදීප පුවත්පතේ සටහනක් පලව නැති බවයි.” The review instead identifies a different item in that issue as the source material for the circulating image. It reports that a similar-length story appeared on page 5, but under a headline about the suspension of Suwaseriya employees and a statement by parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake. The review says the false item was created by editing that story: “එම කොටසට සමාන පුවතක් එම දිනයේම ලංකාදීප පුවත්පතේ 05 පිටුවේ වාර්තා කර තිබෙනවා.” It further identifies the headline and states that the fake story was made by editing it: “ලිපියක් සංස්කරණය කරමින් මෙම ව්‍යාජ පුවත් නිර්මාණය වී තිබු බව අපට එහිදී පෙනී ගියා.” Thus, the evidence addresses the specific newspaper attribution in the claim: the quoted Ranawaka headline was not in the checked issue, while the review traces the image to an altered version of a different article. The supplied excerpt does not provide further detail about who made or circulated the edit.

FACTLYPolitics & government

AAP is outsourcing paid volunteers to farmers’ protest

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video in which men complained that AAP leaders had not paid them the agreed amount for attending a meeting. The post linked the footage to the ongoing farmers’ protest and alleged that AAP was outsourcing paid volunteers to it. The review reports that the video was old and was not connected to that protest. To trace the footage, the fact-checkers searched for reverse-image matches using screenshots from the post. They found a 2018 YouTube video with similar visuals, then searched YouTube using relevant keywords and found a 2018 news video showing one of the men. According to that news video, the footage had circulated after Arvind Kejriwal’s meeting in Hisar, Haryana, and showed volunteers who attended the meeting complaining about a pre-agreed payment. The review also describes a video shared by an AAP social media team member, juxtaposing the viral footage with another video of the same man and alleging that he had been made to lie. The fact-checkers say they could not confirm those allegations against AAP. Their conclusion about the protest claim rests instead on the footage’s earlier circulation and its connection to the Hisar meeting, which the review says separates it from the ongoing farmers’ protest.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Kamala Harris tweet in support of ongoing Indian farmer’s protest

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a social-media image presented as a tweet by then Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris supporting India’s ongoing farmers’ protest. The investigation reports that a search of Harris’s official Twitter account found no such post, and that it could not find an archived version of one either. Those checks address whether the purported tweet appeared on the account attributed to it, rather than whether the protest or a statement supporting it existed. [S1: “When we ran a search for the tweet on Kamala Harris’s official Twitter account, we could not find any such tweet about Indian farmers’ protest on her timeline. Also, we could not find an archived version of any such tweet.”]

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

In Paris sollen angeblich an einem bestimmten Wochenende Zehntausende gegen die Corona-Diktatur auf die Straßen gegangen sein, behauptet ein Facebook-User in einem Posting (hier archiviert). Dazu teilt er einen Screenshot eines Videos, das zahlreiche protestierende Menschen vor dem Eiffelturm zeigt.

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Das Video zeigt keine Demonstration gegen Coronamaßnahmen. Die Menschen protestierten gegen ein umstrittenes Sicherheitsgesetz.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Mit einer Unterbrechung von 2008 bis 2012 ist Wladimir Putin seit dem Jahr 2000 der Präsident von Russland. Eine Verfassungsänderung im Juli 2020 hat ihm sogar die Teilnahme an weiteren Wahlen und das Regieren bis 2036 ermöglicht. Endet Putins Präsidentschaft aber nun abrupt? Einem Bericht von Anfang November 2020 zufolge steht Putin kurz vor seinem Rücktritt (hier archiviert). «Kein Geringerer als Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin soll Medienberichten zufolge kurz vor seinem Rücktritt stehen. Der Grund für den überraschenden Rückzug: eine angebliche Parkinson-Erkrankung», heißt es in dem Artikel. Kann das sein?

Publisher’s rating: Der Kreml hat die Behauptungen über einen Rücktritt zurückgewiesen. Der im Artikel als Quelle angegebene wissenschaftliche Aufsatz aus dem Jahr 2015 beschäftigt sich zwar mit Gerüchten über eine Parkinson-Erkrankung Putins, weist diese aber zurück.

The claim concerned reports in early November 2020 that Vladimir Putin was about to resign because he allegedly had Parkinson’s disease. The review says the claim was based in part on remarks by a historian and Putin critic, and explains that speculation about Putin’s health and departure had also circulated earlier. Its account therefore distinguishes the existence of reports and speculation from evidence that a resignation or diagnosis was established. [S1: “Der Historiker und Putin-Kritiker, auf dessen Aussagen die aktuelle Behauptung zurückgeht, hatte zum Beispiel bereits 2019 gesagt, dass das politische System in Russland zusammenbrechen werde.”; S1: “Spekulationen über Putins Gesundheitszustand und seinen angeblichen Abtritt gibt es immer wieder.”] The review reports that Putin’s spokesman denied the resignation claim and called it “complete nonsense.” It also notes that Putin continued to appear publicly after the claim was published. Those details directly bear on the suggestion that his departure was imminent, though the excerpt does not describe a systematic review of every subsequent appearance or establish what Putin’s health was. [S1: “Der Sprecher von Putin hat die Behauptung dementiert und als «kompletten Unsinn» bezeichnet.”; S1: “Seit Veröffentlichung der Behauptung ist Putin weiter öffentlich aufgetreten.”] The article cited as support for the Parkinson’s allegation referred to a 2015 scientific paper discussing Putin’s unusual walking style and speculation about a connection with Parkinson’s. But, according to the review, the researchers explicitly concluded that Parkinson’s was unlikely and attributed the gait partly to his KGB training. Thus, the paper discussed the rumor; the review says its stated conclusion did not support the article’s implication that Putin had the disease. [S1: “Der Artikel mit der Behauptung, Putin leide an Parkinson, bezieht sich unter anderem auf einen wissenschaftlichen Aufsatz aus Großbritannien, der einen ungewöhnlichen Laufstil Putins und Vermutungen über einen Zusammenhang mit Parkinson diskutiert.”; S1: “Im besagten Aufsatz von 2015 betonen die Wissenschaftler an mehreren Stellen aber ausdrücklich ihr Ergebnis, wonach eine Parkinson-Erkrankung Putins unwahrscheinlich sei.”; S1: “Der Laufstil resultiere vielmehr unter anderem aus seiner Ausbildung beim Geheimdienst KGB.”]