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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

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

In den sozialen Medien geht ein Sharepic um, auf dem ein vermeintliches Zitat des französischen Präsidenten Emmanuel Macron zu lesen ist: «Deutschland muss lernen, seinen Wohlstand zu teilen.» Der Facebook-User kontert mit der Frage: «Warum lernen andere nicht, selbst welchen zu erwirtschaften?!» Abschließend erfolgt der Aufruf, dieses Bild zu teilen – damit Deutschland nicht noch mehr Geld an die Europäische Union bezahlen müsse.

Publisher’s rating: Das Zitat stammt nicht von Frankreichs Staatschef Macron. Es geht auf einen Meinungs-Artikel in der Zeitung «Die Welt» zurück, in dem eine Rede Macrons zum Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges eingeordnet und kommentiert wurde.

The Facebook image attributes “Germany must learn to share its prosperity” to French President Emmanuel Macron, then urges users to share the image so Germany would not have to pay more money to the European Union. The review traces the wording to a different source: the headline of an opinion article in the German newspaper Die Welt, not a statement by Macron. Its author used the headline while commenting on Macron’s speech and arguing for solidarity among EU countries. [S1]

Pagella PoliticaPolitics & government

«Contrariamente a quanto spesso si sente dire, la proroga dello stato di emergenza non incide sul potere del Governo e del Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri di emanare decreti»

Publisher’s rating: Vero

The review examines Giuseppe Conte’s statement in the Italian Senate on 28 July 2020, during debate over extending the state of emergency. Conte argued that extending the emergency did not determine whether the Government and the Prime Minister could issue decrees. The review’s central distinction is between the legal basis for DPCMs and the separate emergency powers of Civil Protection: it says the emergency declaration concerns Civil Protection’s authority to issue special orders, while it “non modifica invece le prerogative del governo e del Parlamento e i rapporti tra potere esecutivo e legislativo.” (S1) For pandemic-related DPCMs, the review identifies the legal basis as legislation, especially decree-law no. 19 of 25 March 2020, rather than the emergency declaration itself. It explains that the decree-law linked the measures that could be adopted to the emergency’s then-expiry date of 31 July, and that those measures could be adopted through DPCMs. However, extending the emergency to 15 October would not, by itself, extend the Government’s authority to issue those DPCMs: the review says a further decree-law or law would be needed. (S1) The review therefore qualifies Conte’s point. In legal terms, the emergency extension was not a necessary condition for issuing DPCMs, and a later law authorizing them could in principle omit a reference to the emergency. But that extension alone also did not renew the DPCM authority under the existing pandemic legislation. The review describes the emergency reference as politically supportive of the Government’s request for legislative authorization, while identifying Civil Protection orders—not DPCMs—as the powers legally grounded in the emergency declaration. (S1)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

«Hinter der demokratischen Fassade wurde ein System installiert, in dem völlig andere Regeln gelten als die des Grundgesetzes. Das System ist undemokratisch und korrupt, es missbraucht die Macht. Krisen sind das Ziel der Eliten.» In einem Facebook-Post wird behauptet, dass dieses Zitat vom Autor Hans Herbert von Arnim stammen soll. Eine Quelle oder Fundstelle wird nicht genannt.

Publisher’s rating: Den ersten Satz hat von Arnim in einem Buch von 2001 geschrieben. Er selber sagt, das Zitat stamme in dieser Zusammenstellung nicht von ihm.

The post attributes a three-sentence quotation to political scientist and author Hans Herbert von Arnim. The review finds that the attribution is only partly accurate: the first sentence appears in his 2001 book *Das System*, but the wording in the post differs at its beginning. The book’s wording begins, “Im Laufe der Zeit wurde hinter der demokratischen Fassade …”; the post omits that opening phrase. The review also reports a direct check with von Arnim: when asked by dpa through his publisher’s press office, he said the quotation “in dieser Zusammenstellung definitiv nicht von ihm” was and that the last two sentences were not his. Thus, finding a related sentence in the book does not support attributing the entire combined quotation to him. For the final sentence, “Krisen sind das Ziel der Eliten,” the review points to a different attribution trail: it appears in a blog’s blogroll credited to Hans J. Bocker, and an interview with Bocker is headed by that sentence. This evidence supports distinguishing von Arnim’s similar sentence in the book from the full quotation circulated in the post.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Video showing Pakistani national flags being waved at a rally of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a circulating video said to show Pakistani national flags at a rally of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Its comparison focused on a visible feature of Pakistan’s national flag: the white vertical stripe at the hoist, alongside a green field and white crescent and star. The review reports that the flags in the circulating video did not show that stripe. To identify the footage, the investigators reverse-image-searched screenshots from the video. They found the same video on Gehlot’s Facebook page, where it had been posted in November 2018. The accompanying post said Gehlot had flagged off a procession in Jodhpur for Milad-un-nabi. The review says Gehlot’s version was clearer, allowing the flags to be examined more closely. In that clearer footage, the flags showed a green field with a large white crescent and star, but not the vertical white stripe the review identifies as part of Pakistan’s flag. On that visual comparison, the review concluded that the flags were Islamic flags, not Pakistani national flags. Thus, the evidence presented addresses the flags in the specific Gehlot rally video, rather than establishing anything about flags at other events.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Photo of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot serving tea to convince his party MLAs amid the political crisis in the state

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photo circulating during Rajasthan’s political crisis in 2020. It was presented as showing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot serving tea to persuade his party’s MLAs. FACTLY’s review says the image did not document that crisis: it identifies the scene as Gehlot serving Congress Party workers after the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly election results. The review describes a reverse-image-search check. That search returned a Getty Images page containing the same photo, whose description placed the scene after the 2018 election results and identified the people being served as Congress Party workers. This provides a different occasion and audience from the claim that Gehlot was serving MLAs to win their support during the later crisis. FACTLY concludes that the photo was old and unrelated to the ongoing political crisis. The image’s circulation amid that crisis therefore supplied a misleading setting for an earlier photograph; the review does not describe the photo as showing the claimed effort to convince MLAs.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Central government has launched PM Dhana Lakshmi Yojana/ PM Vaibhav Lakshmi Yojana for the benefit of women.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned two purported central-government schemes for women: PM Dhana Lakshmi Yojana and PM Vaibhav Lakshmi Yojana. The review describes posts alleging that women could receive collateral-free loans through Dhana Lakshmi Yojana and a video claiming loans were available through a Vaibhav Lakshmi scheme. It concludes that the central government had launched neither scheme. To check the claim, the review says it searched the Ministry of Women & Child Development’s list of women-related schemes and the websites of SBI and Vijaya Bank, identified in the article as now Bank of Baroda. It reports finding no mention of either scheme in those places. It also says it found no reporting about the schemes in newspapers or other news coverage, and no information about them on the government’s Direct Benefit Transfer website or other government portals. The review identifies a Press Information Bureau tweet dated 12 June 2020 as its decisive evidence: it says the PIB denied that the central government had any plan to launch such a scheme and called the circulating post fake. Taken together, the review’s account of the PIB denial and its searches of government and bank sources supports its conclusion that the loan offers described in the posts were not official central-government schemes.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Die Grünen-Politikerin Katrin Göring-Eckardt hat im Netz einige Häme auf sich gezogen, als sie den Anteil der nach Frauen benannten Straßen in Jena kritisierte. Die Fraktionschefin der Grünen im Bundestag könne nicht richtig rechnen, wird in Facebook-Posts suggeriert

Publisher’s rating: Göring-Eckardt hat sich nach Angaben ihres Büros auf die Daten eines Frauenzentrums in Jena gestützt. Dessen Rechnung bezieht sich auf alle Straßen der Stadt. Das Frauenzentrum beruft sich dabei auf Angaben der Stadt Jena aus dem Jahr 2014. Heute gibt die Stadtverwaltung eine andere Zahl von Straßen an.

Fact Crescendo Sri lankaPolitics & government

අගමැති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හැරමිටි වාරුවෙන් ඇවිදින බව පෙන්වීමට යොදාගත් සාවද්‍ය ඡායාරුප සටහනක් | Misleading image to convey a false message that PM Mahinda Rajapaksa was using a walking stick

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined social-media posts using a photograph to suggest that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was walking with a stick. It reports that the image was taken as he climbed onto the stage at a public meeting in Kottawa, rather than while walking with a stick. The review says the circulating image showed him holding a stair handrail, with another person behind him also holding the rail. (The article describes him as “අත්වැල අල්ලාගෙන වේදිකාවට නගින”; its context is a stage staircase.)

FACTLYPolitics & government

An IAS officer sat down holding the stool for Uma Bharti, who studied only till 5th class

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The viral post combined two assertions: that an IAS officer sat down holding the stool Uma Bharti stood on while delivering a speech, and that Bharti had studied only through fifth class. The review says the education detail was accurate, but disputes the identification of the man as an IAS officer. It reports that other accounts described him as a security officer or an unidentified party worker, and that it found no evidence establishing that he was an IAS officer. To investigate the image’s provenance, the review says it ran a reverse image search and found news articles carrying the same image. Those articles placed the photograph at a meeting Bharti addressed in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, in December 2016. The review also points to a video in which a Gujarati news channel debunked the same claim. Its conclusion is therefore specific: the image shows a man holding the stool, but the available evidence cited in the review does not support calling him an IAS officer.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has made vulgar remarks to warn village heads against the violation of lockdown rules in the villages

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a newspaper clipping shared on social media that appeared to show Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar using vulgar language to warn village heads about lockdown violations. FACTLY’s review concluded that the clipping’s headline had been altered: the derogatory wording was inserted into the title, rather than spoken by Kumar. The review distinguished that altered headline from the underlying point that village heads were being held answerable for lockdown violations. To check the clipping, FACTLY searched for a similar image and found one posted by the Facebook page Begusarai Live on 11 April 2020. Its headline said village heads would be accountable if lockdown rules were violated. FACTLY then searched for sentences from the article’s body and found the same article on the Dainik Jagran website; the review says the body matched, while the headline there did not contain the derogatory wording. The review notes a limitation: it could not locate the exact e-paper article. Its conclusion instead rests on comparing the Begusarai Live image and the Dainik Jagran article, and on finding similar headlines from other news agencies that described village heads and councillors as answerable. On that evidence, FACTLY assessed the viral clipping’s headline as edited to make it appear that Kumar had used the vulgar words.