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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: This is not the Luxury Aircraft bought for PM Modi

Publisher’s rating: False

The review investigated a social-media post that presented an interior photograph as the luxury aircraft bought for PM Modi. The post claimed a cost of roughly ₹8,500 crore and linked the purchase to public hardship and PM CARES funds. The review’s central image check was whether the photograph actually showed the aircraft bought for the prime minister. To trace the image, the review says it found a news report showing the same photograph identified as the interior of a privately owned luxury aircraft in China. It compared the image in that report with the one circulating in the post, and concluded the photograph was not of the aircraft India was acquiring. Thus, the claim about this particular image is supported by the review’s stated provenance check. The review also separates that image finding from the broader aircraft purchase. It reports that India was acquiring two Boeing aircraft for the President, Vice President and Prime Minister, not one plane exclusively for Modi. It says the purchase plan and funding allocations predated the pandemic, citing allocations in the 2018–19 and 2019–20 budgets and a further ₹810 crore allocation in the latest budget discussed in its account. It also notes that the government had not officially disclosed the aircraft’s price; ₹8,458 crore was a reported estimate for the two aircraft, not an officially announced price for one plane. The review therefore identifies a real aircraft purchase but says the post paired it with a misidentified photograph and misleading claims about the timing, purpose and cost. Its account says funding was not allocated during the COVID-19 period and that the aircraft’s security features, including missile-countermeasure technology, contributed to the reported expense.

Vera FilesPolitics & government

Former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III did not have any infrastructure projects.

Publisher’s rating: False

Related reporting provides evidence that challenges the claim. It recounts Senator Kiko Pangilinan’s remarks about Aquino’s 2010–2016 presidency, including his statement that the administration constructed what he called the country’s largest road-construction network during its six-year term. That reported road-building is infrastructure activity, so it contradicts the absolute assertion that Aquino had no infrastructure projects. The excerpt presents Pangilinan’s account at a Liberal Party anniversary event; it does not provide a project list, budget records, or an independent audit of construction. It therefore supports the narrower conclusion that road construction was attributed to Aquino’s administration, but does not by itself establish the scale, completion status, or details of particular projects. This assessment is based on related reporting, not an original Vera Files review.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Has seeman received 10 crore rupees from Congress Party

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a social-media post alleging that actor and political leader Seeman had received 10 crore rupees through a Congress MLA. The post presented the allegation as a News18 Tamil Nadu news card. The review says it had been shared by Kurinji Venthan Bharatham on July 28, 2020, and that versions of the card appeared to date from 2017. The review questioned the card’s authenticity based on its presentation: it noted that the card called Seeman an actor and used an unusually respectful form of address, and that its Tamil font did not look like the font News18 Tamil Nadu usually used. These observations prompted the publisher to check whether News18 had actually reported the story. The review reports that searches found no News18 item or other Tamil-media report supporting the allegation. It then contacted News18 Tamil Nadu’s online team, which said it had not published the card and that it was fake. On this basis, the review concluded that the circulating card was fabricated and that the post’s claim was false.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Mit einer Großdemonstration in Berlin haben Gegner der Corona-Auflagen am Wochenende die Schlagzeilen bestimmt. Zur Teilnehmerzahl gibt es vor allem in den Sozialen Netzwerken jedoch falsche und deutlich übertriebene Angaben. An der Demonstration in Berlin am 1. August 2020 sollen demnach Hunderttausende oder sogar über eine Million Menschen teilgenommen haben.

Publisher’s rating: Derart hohe Zahlen sind durch nichts belegt. Die Polizei geht von maximal rund 20 000 Demonstranten aus. Auch Fotos lassen auf eine vergleichbare Größenordnung schließen.

The claim concerns the number of people at the Berlin demonstration against coronavirus restrictions on 1 August 2020. The review distinguishes between the march on Unter den Linden and the subsequent rally on Straße des 17. Juni: police figures cited in the article were about 17,000 for the march and just over 20,000 for the rally. The rally, called “Tag der Freiheit: Das Ende der Pandemie,” had been registered for around 10,000 people.

BR24 FaktenfuchsPolitics & government

Auf der Demonstration in Berlin gegen die Corona-Maßnahmen waren in Wirklichkeit nicht 17.000 oder 20.000 Demonstranten, sondern 1,3 Millionen oder 800.000. Die Polizei bestätigte 800.000 Teilnehmer der Demo.

Publisher’s rating: Das ist falsch. Mit Hilfe des Recherche-Tools "mapchecking" kommen wir auf eine Zahl, die im Bereich der 20.000 Personen liegt. Die Varianzen ergeben sich aus den Schätzungen, die wir der Berechnung zugrundelegen. Bei den bisherigen Großveranstaltungen auf der Straße des 17. Juni waren im Vergleich zu der Kundgebung am Samstag nicht nur die Straße des 17. Juni, sondern auch der angrenzende Tiergarten, sowie die Straßen um den Friedensengel eng gefüllt. Am Samstag war das nicht der Fall.

USA TODAYPolitics & government

Joe Biden takes a knee after spotting an American flag near his childhood home in Pennsylvania.

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerns a viral Facebook post showing Joe Biden on one knee outside his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The post said he had taken a knee after spotting an American flag, framing the pose as a political gesture. USA TODAY reports a different explanation: Biden was speaking with a young child and lowered himself to talk at the child’s eye level. The review describes the post’s implication that he was aligning himself with athletes kneeling during the national anthem, but says the image did not show that motivation. The review describes checking video views from C-SPAN and DailyMail.com. It says the C-SPAN view shows Biden speaking to a child and quotes him asking the child’s age while holding up four fingers. Although a nearby house had an American flag outside, the review says Biden’s attention was on the child, not the house or flag. It also cites the Associated Press caption for Matt Slocum’s photograph, which identifies the scene as Biden kneeling to talk with a child during his Scranton visit on July 9, 2020. Together, the video description and photo caption support the child-conversation explanation rather than the post’s claim about why he knelt.