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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

Vera FilesPolitics & government

NBI Clearance, TIN, Birth Certificate, and other government documents can now be obtained for free

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

Related reporting describes a limited fee exemption under Republic Act 11261, the First Time Job Seekers Assistance Act. It says first-time jobseekers seeking employment locally or abroad can obtain certain government-issued identification documents and clearances for free. The listed documents include an NBI certificate, birth and/or marriage certificates, and a tax identification number (TIN), as well as police and barangay clearances and other items. The key qualification is that this is not a general offer of free government documents to everyone. According to the report, applicants must submit a barangay certification as proof that they are first-time jobseekers. The report also says the law covers out-of-school youth. Thus, the named documents are supported as free for eligible applicants under the stated conditions, but the claim leaves out the restriction and overstates who can obtain them without charge.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaPolitics & government

අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක පිළිබඳව ඉදිරිපත්ව ඇති අසත්‍ය සටහන් පෙළක්! | Altered images targeting JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The review examined two Facebook posts attributed to Anura Kumara Dissanayake: one presenting him as urging that the LPL tournament be suspended and its funds given to people in isolated areas, and another carrying a separate insulting message. It reports that the JVP media coordinator told the investigators the posts’ claims were false and that the images had been altered. The review’s conclusion addresses both posts, not just one of them. [S1: “පසුගිය දින කිහිපයේ අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතාගේ අලලා ෆේස්බුක් ජාලයේ ඉදිරිපත්ව තිබූ සටහන් කිහිපයක්”] [S1: “මෙම සටහන් වල අන්තර්ගත කරුණු සාවද්‍ය අතර මෙම සටහන්වල ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති ඡායාරූප ව්‍යාජ ලෙස සංස්කරණය කර ඇති බවය.”] [S1: “අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා අළලා ෆේස්බුක් ජාලයේ ඉදරිපත්ව ඇති ඉහත සටහන් දෙකම පැහැදිලි ලෙසම සංස්කරණය කරනමින් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබු සටහන් බවයි”] For the LPL post, the investigators compared its newspaper-style image with material on Dissanayake’s Facebook page and an article in Mawbima. They found that the genuine item was an interview about the 2021 budget, published in the newspaper on page 12 on November 18; comparison of the headline and image showed the circulating version had been edited. [S1: “නොවැම්බර් මස 18 වැනිදා මව්බිම පුවත්පතේ 12 වැනි පිටුවේ එම ලිපිය පලවී තිබෙනු ද අපද දැகගாண”] For the other post, the review describes a different image-editing trail: the JVP coordinator said Dissanayake’s image had been cut from a photograph taken when he visited the Malwathu prelate in July 2019. The review says Dissanayake’s Facebook page showed photographs of that event dated July 2, 2019, and observes that the image in the post was carelessly edited. It also suggests, rather than establishes, that the background may have been taken from a 2017 Hungary forum photograph of Malik Samarawickrama. [S1: “2019 වසරේ ජුලි මස අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා, මල්වතු පාර්ශවයේ මහනායක හිමියන් බැහැදුටු අවස්ථාවේ ගත් ඡායාරූපයක”] [S1: “2019 ජුලි මස 02 වැනිදා පළවූ ඡායාරුප පෙළ අතර”]

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

UP cabinet passes ‘love jihad’ ordinance.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The viral post asserted that Uttar Pradesh’s cabinet had passed a “love jihad” ordinance making it a crime for a Muslim boy to fall in love with a non-Muslim girl, punishable by five years in prison. Vishvas News examined that specific post, which it said was shared on Twitter and Facebook. Its review distinguishes the post’s claim about falling in love from what the ordinance addressed: the cabinet had cleared an ordinance against unlawful, forced religious conversions, including conversions connected with marriage. The review says the cabinet passed the ordinance on 24 November, without the supplied excerpt specifying a year in that passage.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Im Internet kursiert ein Foto der Grünen-Politikerin Katrin Göring-Eckardt, auf dem sie scheinbar eine Maske mit dem Schriftzug «New Normal (...) Great Reset» trägt. Dazu der Kommentar «Ohne Worte» (hier archiviert). Im Hintergrund sieht man das Plenum des Deutschen Bundestages.

Publisher’s rating: Das Foto ist gefälscht, der Schriftzug wurde nachträglich hineinmontiert.

The claim concerns an image presented as showing Green Party politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt wearing a mask printed with “New Normal (...) Great Reset” in the Bundestag plenary. The dpa investigation compared the circulated image with footage and material from the parliamentary session on 18 November 2020, when the Bundestag debated amendments to the Infection Protection Act. It reports that the footage shows Göring-Eckardt at 13:26, wearing a white face covering and a red blazer, matching those features in the circulated image. The agency also notes that she wore the same blazer before and after the session. (S1: “Am 18. November 2020 debattierte der Bundestag über die Reform des Infektionsschutzgesetzes. In der Aufzeichnung der Debatte sieht man um 13.26 Uhr (eingeblendete Uhrzeit) Katrin Göring-Eckardt mit einer weißen Mund-Nasen-Bedeckung und einem roten Blazer - wie auch auf dem manipulierten Foto. Auch vor und nach der Sitzung trug sie diesen Blazer.”) The dpa account identifies the original image as a selfie posted on Göring-Eckardt’s Twitter account. It says the mask in that selfie is unprinted apart from the manufacturer’s marking, rather than bearing the slogan shown in the circulated version. This comparison supports the conclusion that the slogan is not part of the mask in the original image. (S1: “Das Originalfoto stammt von Göring-Eckardts Twitter-Account. Auf dem Selfie aus dem Plenarsaal sieht man, dass ihre Maske abgesehen von der Herstellerangabe unbedruckt ist.”)

Vishvas NewsPolitics & government

కాంగ్రెస్ నాయకురాలు ప్రియాంక గాంధీ చేసిన ఒక ట్వీట్‌లో దేశ తొలి ప్రధాని జవహర్‌లాల్ నెహ్రూపై అభ్యంతరకరమైన వ్యాఖ్య ఇటీవల సోషల్ మీడియాలో వైరల్ అయ్యింది.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim is that a tweet by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi containing an objectionable remark about Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, recently went viral. Vishvas News examined the specific image being shared as her tweet and concluded that it was fabricated by editing an older post. The article says the viral image had been shared by a Facebook user on November 20, though it does not specify the year for that sharing in the excerpt. To investigate, the fact-checkers say they searched Twitter using keywords and found an older post by Priyanka Gandhi dated November 14, 2019. That post recounts a story about Nehru returning from work at 3 a.m., finding his exhausted bodyguard asleep on his bed, covering him with a blanket, and sleeping on a nearby chair. Vishvas News reports that this original post was altered to add the objectionable content and says it identified differences between the original and viral versions. For further confirmation, the article says it contacted Congress national spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh, who characterized such posts as fake. It also reports that its social-media examination of the user who shared the viral post found that he lived in New Delhi and had previously shared other viral posts. The excerpt does not provide the viral image itself or describe the specific added wording, so those details cannot be independently assessed from the supplied text. Its central finding is that Gandhi’s older tweet was edited, not that she posted the objectionable remark.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

War die Störaktion im Bundestag eine Inszenierung? Die Frau, die am 18. November 2020 von AfD-Abgeordneten ins Parlament eingeladen wurde und dort Abgeordnete bedrängt hat, soll angeblich vor 2020 als «linke Aktivistin», «Flüchtlingshelferin und Antifa» bekannt gewesen sein - und nun in den Medien als rechts dargestellt werden. Das wird in einer Grafik auf Facebook behauptet (hier archiviert) - verbunden mit der Mutmaßung, die Vorfälle könnten gestellt gewesen sein.

Publisher’s rating: Tatsächlich war die Frau in der Flüchtlingshilfe aktiv. Seit mehreren Jahren ist sie zudem zunehmend im rechten und islamfeindlichen Spektrum vernetzt und hat sich in Artikeln und Interviews entsprechend geäußert. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Thema Migration nutzt sie Begriffe, die auch von Rechtsextremen verwendet werden.

The Facebook graphic juxtaposed the woman’s earlier work in refugee support and antiracist circles with her later appearances in right-leaning media, implying that her Bundestag disruption on 18 November 2020 might have been staged. The review examines the woman’s public record and the origins of one image in the graphic; it does not present evidence that the Bundestag incident itself was staged. The review traces her refugee-support activity to a 2015 photograph on the website of Berlin’s “Arbeitsgruppe Flucht + Menschenrechte,” and notes that the group appeared in later reporting. It also cites an antifa-berlin.info account describing her involvement in civil-society and antiracist alliances. But this earlier history does not establish that her later views or affiliations were fabricated: the review reports a 2018 interview in which she described a change from pro-refugee to opposing positions and made broad claims about Islam and refugees. For the period after that change, the review points to her reporting on an AfD event in May 2019, appearances at WerteUnion events in 2019, and her use of “Remigration” in a June 2020 interview. It also connects a September 2020 report from Lesbos and an encounter with Green politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt to false claims about staged scenes at a refugee camp. These details support the review’s account of her changing public profile and of a separate staging allegation about Lesbos; they do not, on the evidence supplied, independently establish whether the Bundestag disruption was arranged.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Unausgewogene Berichterstattung über die AfD? Dass ein Abgeordneter am Rande des Protests gegen die Reform des Infektionsschutzgesetzes am 18. November in Berlin kurzzeitig festgenommen wurde, habe für kein Medienecho gesorgt - im Gegensatz zu den Störungen im Bundestag durch von der AfD eingeschleuste Aktivisten. Dieser Vorwurf wird in einem Sharepic auf Facebook erhoben (hier archiviert).

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Viele Medien haben über die Festnahme des AfD-Abgeordneten berichtet.

The Facebook sharepic alleged that Hilse’s detention during protests against changes to the Infection Protection Act received no media attention, unlike disruptions in the Bundestag by activists allegedly brought in by the AfD. The investigation identifies the event as the temporary detention of AfD Bundestag member Karsten Hilse in Berlin on 18 November 2020. It reports that several thousand people demonstrated around Bundestag buildings that day and that Hilse was detained at the edge of the protest.