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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: Modi did not paid tribute to Godse

Publisher’s rating: False

The viral post paired images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Gandhi statue and in front of a portrait, and claimed he was paying tribute both to Gandhi and to Nathuram Godse, Gandhi’s assassin. The review says the portrait in the disputed image was identified as Godse’s, but that identification was the central point it checked: “காந்தி சிலை மற்றும் சாவர்க்கர் படத்தை பிரதமர் மோடி வணங்கும் புகைப்படங்கள் ஒன்றாக சேர்த்துப் பகிரப்பட்டுள்ளது.” This says the images showed Modi in front of a Savarkar portrait, not a Godse portrait. To trace the image, the review reports using reverse-image search and finding that Modi had posted it on Twitter on December 30, 2018. The post described his visit to the cell at Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands where Veer Savarkar had been imprisoned. Its quoted caption begins: “Among those imprisoned at Cellular Jail was the great Veer Savarkar. I visited the cell where the indomitable Veer Savarkar was lodged.” The review also says news reports described Modi meditating in the cell where Savarkar had been held. It concludes that the circulated image showed Modi meditating in front of Savarkar’s portrait at Cellular Jail—not paying tribute to Godse—and that the Facebook post was false. The evidence presented therefore addresses the disputed image and the identity of the person in its portrait, rather than establishing a general claim about Modi’s views or actions.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Facebook India’s Public Policy Director Ankhi Das, disrespected the country by cutting a cake with the Indian tricolour

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned photographs of a woman cutting a cake decorated with the Indian tricolour and holding a piece bearing the Ashoka Chakra. The social-media post identified her as Ankhi Das, Facebook India’s Public Policy Director, and portrayed the act as disrespectful to India. The investigation concluded that this identification was wrong: it said the woman was Sangeeta Bahadur, then India’s ambassador to Belarus, and that the cake-cutting took place during Independence Day celebrations at the Indian Embassy in Minsk. To check who appeared in the photographs, FACTLY says it used reverse image search and found similar images in a post on Bahadur’s official Facebook page. The review reports that she shared the photographs as showing India’s 74th Independence Day celebrations at the embassy in Minsk. It also says a photograph of Bahadur beside the cake appeared on the official website of the Embassy of India in Minsk, and that the embassy shared photographs of the event on its official Twitter account. The review further says it compared the facial features of Bahadur and Das. Its conclusion was that Bahadur had been falsely portrayed as Das; accordingly, the evidence addresses the central factual issue in the claim—the identity of the person in the cake-cutting photographs—rather than establishing that Das performed the act.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Former IPS officer Annamalai not commented on H Raja

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerns a social-media card attributed to Tamil news outlet Puthiya Thalaimurai. Its headline represented former IPS officer Annamalai as saying he calls H. Raja “uncle.” The review says the card circulated after Annamalai joined the BJP on August 25, 2020, when various claims about him were also being shared online. The fact-check’s specific question was whether Annamalai had made the statement shown on that card. (The review describes the card as “எச். ராஜாவை மாமா என்றுதான் அழைப்பேன் – அண்ணாமலை” and says Annamalai joined the BJP on “ஆகஸ்ட் 25, 2020 அன்று.”)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Ein auf Facebook kursierendes Video soll angeblich einen Politiker der Regierung zeigen, der sich wegen der Corona-Politik gegen selbige stellt. «Ein Regierungsvertreter spricht im Bundestag sehr hart gegen die eigene Regierung und empfiehlt dann sogar zum Schluss noch, auf die Demo am 29. August nach Berlin zu kommen, um für Recht und Freiheit, und damit gegen die Regierung zu demonstrieren», heißt es in der Videobeschreibung (archiviertes Video).

Publisher’s rating: Das Video zeigt eine Rede im Berliner Abgeordnetenhaus, nicht im Bundestag. Es spricht der fraktionslose Abgeordnete Andreas Wild, kein Regierungsvertreter.

The claim described a Facebook video as showing a government representative speaking against the government in the Bundestag over its coronavirus policy and encouraging people to attend a Berlin demonstration on 29 August. The review identifies the setting instead as a session of the Berlin House of Representatives, the state parliament, and the speaker as Andreas Wild, an unaffiliated member of that legislature—not a government representative. To establish the video’s provenance, the review says the Facebook footage corresponds to Wild’s speech in the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) media library. It also points to the agenda for the Berlin parliament’s 20 August 2020 session. According to the review, the session’s agenda included a debate on right-wing violence, a suspected Islamist attack on Berlin’s A100 motorway, and several draft laws; Wild was one of nine speakers in the current-affairs debate. The review says Wild discussed terrorism and criticized coronavirus regulations. It notes that Berlin was governed by a red-red-green coalition and identifies Wild as an opposition politician; it also reports that the AfD parliamentary group had expelled him in July 2017. These details distinguish criticism of government policy by an opposition politician from the claim that a government representative was speaking in the Bundestag. The supplied text does not establish whether the video’s specific claim about the demonstration was made in the speech.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Im Internet kursiert ein Bild mit einem vermeintlichen Zitat von Cem Özdemir. Dem Grünen-Politiker werden dabei ähnliche Invasionsgedanken wie den Osmanen im 17. Jahrhundert unterstellt. Diese hatten auf ihrem Feldzug Richtung Westen versucht, die Stadt Wien zu erobern - ohne Erfolg. Özdemir soll sich darauf berufen und gesagt haben: «Was unsere Urväter 1683 mit Feuer und Schwert vor den Toren Wiens nicht geschafft haben, werden wir mit unserem Verstand schaffen.»

Publisher’s rating: Der Politiker bestreitet, diesen Satz jemals gesagt zu haben. Er hat die Aussage schon vor mehr als 20 Jahren dementiert.

The claim concerns an image circulating online that attributes to Cem Özdemir a remark comparing the Ottoman army’s failed 1683 attempt to take Vienna with a supposed future success through “reason.” The dpa review addresses that specific quotation. It reports that Özdemir lists it on his own website under “Dichtung und Wahrheit,” a section he set up for statements falsely attributed to him. The review also notes that the quote refers to the unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Vienna.