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
Joe Biden schläft während eines Live-TV-Interviews
Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Der Clip ist manipuliert und aus zwei älteren Videos zusammengesetzt.
Claim: Misinformation about AIADMK minister Rajenthra Balaji
Publisher’s rating: False
The review investigated a Facebook post, published on August 16, 2020, saying that Tamil Nadu minister Rajenthra Balaji would resign if the government did not allow Vinayagar Chaturthi celebrations. It describes the post as being widely shared as true and says it examined whether Balaji had made that statement. The review’s conclusion was that the post contained false information. (The source describes the threat in Tamil as “விநாயகர் சதுர்த்தி விழாவுக்கு அனுமதி தராவிட்டால் அமைச்சர் பதவியில் இருந்து விலகுவது உறுதி – ராஜேந்திர பாலாஜி.”)
Am 29. August 2020 demonstrierten auf der Straße des 17. Juni in Berlin Tausende weitgehend friedlich gegen die Corona-Politik der Regierung. Im Netz wird nun «zum Vergleich» ein Foto verbreitet, dass ausgebrannte Fahrzeuge an einer Straße voller Pflastersteine zeigt - angeblich am selben Tag in der Rigaer Straße in Berlin aufgenommen. Am unteren Bildrand sind die Worte «Junge GruppeGdP» eingefügt.
Publisher’s rating: Das Foto zeigt zwar die Rigaer Straße, ist jedoch mehr als drei Jahre alt. Zwischen dem 28. und dem 30 August 2020 wurden nach Angaben der Polizei in Berlin-Friedrichshain keine Autos angezündet.
The claim concerns a photo of burned-out vehicles and paving stones presented as a comparison with the 29 August 2020 demonstration against the government’s coronavirus policies in Berlin. It alleges that the photo was taken that same day in Rigaer Straße and bears the words “Junge GruppeGdP.” The review identifies the street as Rigaer Straße but says the image predates the demonstration by more than three years. It also reports that police said no cars were set on fire anywhere in Friedrichshain between 28 and 30 August 2020. The review traces the image to a 18 June 2017 post on the Facebook page “JUNGE GRUPPE - GdP Hamburg,” the police union’s youth organisation in Hamburg. It says that post referred to a police statement and several articles from the previous day, illustrated with similar photographs. The review describes matching details in those images: the two burned-out cars, stones, a shopping cart and car tyres. The earlier incident took place overnight from 16 to 17 June 2017 in Rigaer Straße, where the review reports serious disturbances and four injured police officers. Thus, although the photo shows the location named in the claim, its documented publication and the incident it depicts belong to 2017, not the 2020 demonstration weekend.
Auf einem Sharepic auf Facebook wird ein Zitat verbreitet, das der heutige Außenminister und damalige Justizminister Heiko Maas am 16. September 2015 geäußert haben soll: «Unsere Zensurpolitik im Internet ist keineswegs gegen die Meinungsfreiheit gerichtet, sondern sie dient lediglich dazu, die Bürger dazu zu erziehen, dass diese ihre Gedankengänge in die Richtung projizieren, welche auch den staatlichen Richtlinien entspricht.» Am unteren rechten Rand des Fotos steht: «In Satira Veritas by Uwe Ostertag».
Publisher’s rating: Das angebliche Zitat von Heiko Maas ist frei erfunden. Im Netz finden sich viele Falschzitate mit einem Schriftzug von Uwe Ostertag.
The claim concerns a Facebook image attributing a statement about internet censorship and freedom of expression to Heiko Maas, supposedly on 16 September 2015. The image also carries the wording “In Satira Veritas by Uwe Ostertag.” The dpa review examined this particular quote and image, rather than only discussing similar claims about other politicians. It reports that a Google search produced no evidence for the quote and that Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said, in response to a dpa inquiry, that Maas did not say it. The review also distinguishes the false attribution from the unresolved question of who first wrote the sentence. It says it is unclear whether the wording originally came from Ostertag. The article reports that he describes himself as a “troll” and, by his own account, uses such posts for satire; it also notes that many Facebook users take the quotes seriously. Thus, the evidence presented supports rejecting the attribution to Maas, but does not establish the quote’s original author. The dpa places the image in a broader pattern, noting that it had previously checked other false quotes circulated with Ostertag’s name. Those examples provide context for the signature on the image, but the finding about the Maas quote rests on the review’s stated search and the Foreign Office’s direct response.
Die Demonstrationen in Berlin im August gegen die Corona-Politik der Bundesregierung haben für viele Diskussionen gesorgt. Im Internet kursiert nun die Behauptung, solche Proteste gebe es nur in Deutschland. «In keinem Land der Welt demonstriert man gegen Corona-Maßnahmen, sondern eher gegen zu laschen Umgang der Regierungen mit der Gefahr, die von dem Virus ausgeht», heißt es in einem Facebook-Posting. Das Ausland lache über Deutschland.
Publisher’s rating: Die Behauptung ist falsch. Auch in anderen Ländern hat es Demonstrationen gegen Vorschriften zur Eindämmung der Corona-Pandemie gegeben.
The claim was that protests against coronavirus restrictions were unique to Germany, while people elsewhere were protesting governments for being too lax about the virus. The review examines the Berlin demonstrations in August 2020 and compares them with protests elsewhere; it reports that the Facebook post’s assertion of German exceptionalism is contradicted by events in other countries. The most direct comparison is with demonstrations on 29 August, the same day as a Berlin protest. The review reports that people also took to the streets in London, Paris and Vienna to protest their countries’ coronavirus policies. It qualifies the comparison: turnout in those cities was considerably lower than in Berlin. In London, it notes that organizer Piers Corbyn claimed 35,000 participants, while British media reported a smaller crowd; the Guardian estimated a few thousand. Paris had several hundred demonstrators opposing mask requirements, and organizers put Vienna’s attendance at about 3,000. The review also gives examples from earlier in the pandemic, showing that protests against restrictions were not confined to those three cities or to late August. It describes demonstrations in Spain, the Netherlands, Serbia, Chile, Brazil and the United States, with differing causes and circumstances. Taken together, the reported events refute the claim that no other country had demonstrations against coronavirus measures. They do not establish that every protest abroad had the same aims or scale as Berlin’s, and the review’s own comparison makes clear that the August crowds in London, Paris and Vienna were smaller.
Claim: MK Stalin not said that he will move to Kailaasa
Publisher’s rating: False
The review investigates a social-media news card attributed to Thanthi TV that claimed M. K. Stalin would go to Nithyananda’s Kailaasa if he failed to become chief minister in 2021. It reports that the card was posted on 29 August 2020 by Sundar G on the Facebook page BJYM TamilNadu and was subsequently shared by others. The review says it examined whether Stalin had made the quoted statement or a related pledge to leave politics or go abroad if the DMK did not come to power. [S1] The investigation describes two checks. First, it compared the card with Thanthi TV’s usual presentation and found differences in its Tamil font and design, leading the reviewers to suspect that someone had created the card and added the broadcaster’s logo. Second, it searched for reports or statements by Stalin about leaving politics or going abroad under the stated condition, and says it found none. [S1] The review also says its team contacted Thanthi TV’s online and social-media division. According to the article, the division identified the card as fake and directed the reviewers to explanations posted on the broadcaster’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. The review concludes that the card attributed to Thanthi TV was not genuine. [S1]
Nach der Demonstration gegen die deutsche Corona-Politik in Berlin wird im Internet die offizielle Zahlenangabe von rund 38 000 Teilnehmern angezweifelt. Bei Facebook wird ein Foto verbreitet, mit dem bewiesen werden soll, dass die Teilnehmerzahl weit höher war.
Publisher’s rating: Das Foto wurde bei der Loveparade in Berlin im Juli 1997 aufgenommen. Es hat nichts mit der Demonstration gegen die Corona-Politik zu tun.
The claim concerned a Facebook photo presented as evidence that attendance at a Berlin demonstration against coronavirus policy was much higher than the roughly 38,000 officially reported. The review says the photo was not from that demonstration: it shows the 1997 Berlin Loveparade instead. The review describes the image as depicting a large crowd at Ernst-Reuter-Platz and along Straße des 17. Juni, extending east of the Victory Column. To trace the image, the review reports finding it on Euroluftbild.de, a Berlin agency’s website for aerial photographs. It says the agency attributed the photograph to its owner, Robert Grahn, and dated it to 12 July 1997; the image caption identifies the people shown as Loveparade participants. These provenance details place the circulating photo at a different event, more than two decades before the coronavirus-policy demonstration, so the picture cannot establish the attendance at that later demonstration. The review also supplies relevant scale for the image’s actual setting: it reports that around one million people attended the 1997 Loveparade. That figure describes the 1997 event, not the demonstration whose attendance the Facebook post purported to challenge.
Former senator Bam Aquino said, "It is an open fact that Aquino is a family of heroes."
Publisher’s rating: Fake
Op Facebook gaat een video rond van een ontmoeting tussen Russisch president Vladimir Poetin en Nederlands premier Mark Rutte. Het duo ontmoette elkaar in Amsterdam en gaf een persconferentie, waar onder meer het thema 'mensenrechten' uitgebreid werd besproken. President Poetin verweet Nederland dat er organisaties bestaan die pedofilie verdedigen. In de beschrijving van de Facebookpost valt te lezen: "De hele wereld weet dat Nederland geregeerd wordt door een pedofilienetwerk", maar wat klopt daar precies van?
Publisher’s rating: De persconferentie dateert van april 2013, toen de vereniging MARTIJN - die ijverde voor meer acceptatie van pedofilie - nog actief was. Die organisatie heeft echter weinig tot geen zeggeschap in de Nederlandse politieke beslissingen. De uitspraken van Poetin kloppen dus, de bewering in de Facebookpost niet.
The review examines a Facebook video said to show Russian president Vladimir Putin and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte discussing human rights and paedophilia at a press conference in Amsterdam. It identifies the meeting as having taken place on 8 April 2013 at the National Maritime Museum. The review says Rutte criticised Russian policies on homosexuality, while Putin objected to Dutch organisations that defended paedophilia. The post’s broader allegation—that a paedophile network governed the Netherlands—is distinct from Putin’s narrower reference to organisations. The main organisation the review links to Putin’s remarks is MARTIJN, which advocated greater legal and social acceptance of adult-child sexual relationships. The review traces its legal status: it says a 2012 court decision dissolved and banned the association, an appellate court overturned that decision on 2 April 2013, and the Supreme Court ultimately reversed the appellate ruling on 18 April 2014. On that account, MARTIJN was active at the time of the meeting. But the review says the group sought attention and dialogue with politicians and never had political decision-making power. The review also considers the PNVD, which unsuccessfully tried to enter parliamentary elections in 2006 and 2010, and a separate allegation involving a former senior justice official. It says the PNVD failed to obtain the required supporting declarations and dissolved itself, while an appeals court ruled in 2017 that the alleged rape by the former official had not occurred. The review reports no credible evidence that paedophiles as a group wielded substantial power in the Netherlands or that justice was manipulated to suppress investigations. These points do not substantiate the Facebook post’s claim of a governing network.
Wie nach den Demonstrationen gegen die Corona-Maßnahmen der Bundesregierung Anfang August in Berlin werden auch nach den Kundgebungen am 29. August sehr hohe und von den offiziellen Polizei-Angaben abweichende Teilnehmerzahlen verbreitet. Manche User verwenden bei ihren Posts rund um die Demo auch Fotos, die nicht von dieser sind, so wie in diesem Facebook-Beitrag.
Publisher’s rating: Die Verwendung des Fotos in diesem Zusammenhang ist irreführend: Es handelt sich um ein Bild von der Loveparade in Berlin im Jahr 1999. Damals feierten rund 1,5 Millionen Menschen in der Stadt.
The claim concerns a Facebook post made on August 29, 2020, amid demonstrations in Berlin against the federal government’s coronavirus measures. The post displayed the assertion “4 Millionen Menschen sind in Berlin!” over an image of a crowd. The investigation compared the image with other photographs published from that day’s demonstration and noted that the pictured crowd looked substantially larger. It also reported that the demonstration had been registered for 22,000 participants, while describing the event as a protest against the government’s pandemic response.
I don't know the people behind the group pushing for a "revolutionary government."
Publisher’s rating: False
Claim: BJP Tamil Nadu chief Murugan criticized H Raja
Publisher’s rating: False
The claim concerned a social-media news card attributed to Puthiya Thalaimurai. It purported to quote L. Murugan, then Tamil Nadu BJP president, saying it would be very difficult for the lotus to bloom in Tamil Nadu unless H. Raja left the BJP. The review says the card was shared with a film scene and identifies a Facebook post dated August 30, 2020. It also notes that the altered card appeared to be based on a genuine Puthiya Thalaimurai card dated August 29. The review describes comparing the viral image with Puthiya Thalaimurai’s Facebook posts from the relevant day. The genuine card carried a different statement: Murugan said BJP legislators would sit in the Assembly and decorate the Fort, and that he would not rest until then. The review then says it contacted a manager in the outlet’s online division, who confirmed the viral card was not theirs and was fake. As a further check on whether Murugan had criticized Raja, the review looked at coverage of Murugan’s August 29 press interaction in Chennai. It reports that the coverage described remarks about BJP legislators entering the Assembly and learning a third language, but that it found no report of a controversial remark about Raja. The review’s conclusion rests on the altered-card evidence and the outlet’s denial of authorship, together with the absence of the alleged criticism in the reviewed coverage. It concludes that the circulated post was false.
"I say very modestly that I have done more for the African American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president."
Publisher’s rating: Historians disagree
"By the end of my first term, we will have approved more than 300 federal judges, including two great new Supreme Court justices."
Publisher’s rating: 200 confirmed so far
కరోనా లాంటి విపత్కర పరిస్థితుల్లో ప్రధానమంత్రి మోడీ పబ్లిసిటీ కోసం ఫోటో షూట్ లో పాల్గొన్నాడు
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
Photo-op of PM Modi reading books, a newspaper in these times of COVID-19 pandemic
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerned a photo showing Narendra Modi reading a newspaper, with a laptop and books beside him, said to depict a pandemic-era photo-op. FACTLY reports that a reverse image search led to an earlier listicle and that the same image was already available years before the pandemic. This dates the photo earlier than the post’s claimed setting. The review says the image appeared in a listicle dated 14 September 2013, titled “30 things you should know about Narendra Modi.” Its caption described the subject as “Gujarat Chief Minister on the lawns of his palatial home in Gandhinagar.” FACTLY also reports finding the same picture on blogs and other sources since 2011. Together, the earlier appearance and caption establish that the image does not document Modi posing with books and a newspaper during the COVID-19 pandemic.