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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

Auf einem bei Facebook geteilten Bild ist die deutsche Grünen-Politikerin Renate Künast zu sehen, davor steht geschrieben: «Komma, wenn keine Gewalt im Spiel ist, ist der Sex mit Kindern doch ganz ok. Ist mal gut jetzt.» Die Kombination aus Bild und Text suggeriert, dass Künast das so wörtlich behauptet hat.

Publisher’s rating: Künast hat das nicht gesagt. Laut dem Landgericht Frankfurt am Main handelt es sich um ein Falschzitat. Dem Fälscher des Zitats wurde die Verbreitung desselben untersagt.

The claim concerns a Facebook image that pairs a photograph of Green politician Renate Künast with a statement suggesting she approved of sex with children when no violence was involved. The dpa review distinguishes the words Künast actually spoke from the longer wording later placed in the image. In a Berlin parliament debate on 29 May 1986, she interjected: “Komma, wenn keine Gewalt im Spiele ist.” The review says the additional assertion about sex with children and “Ist mal gut jetzt” was not hers. According to the review, a blogger from Saxony-Anhalt published a sharepic in October 2016 that appended those additional words to Künast’s remark. The Frankfurt am Main Regional Court prohibited further distribution in May 2019. After the blogger objected, the court rejected his objection, finding that the fabricated quotation violated Künast’s personality rights; the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court upheld that decision in April 2020. Thus, the image combines an authentic fragment with added wording and presents the result misleadingly as a verbatim statement by Künast.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Mamata Banerjee did not greet Modi upon his arrival at Kolkata airport

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a photo shared as evidence that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrived at Kolkata airport. The review says Modi was visiting cyclone-hit West Bengal and Odisha to assess the situation, and distinguishes the still image from the full sequence of greetings. It concludes that the photo was taken just before the leaders exchanged their customary greetings, so the still did not show what happened immediately afterward. To check the claim, the review reports searching for the video related to the incident using keywords. It says that search results included a video uploaded to YouTube by ANI News Official. In that footage, according to the review, Banerjee greets Modi with a customary namaskar upon his arrival at Kolkata airport. The video therefore supplies the part of the interaction that the circulated photo omitted. The review’s conclusion rests on the distinction between the moment captured in the photo and the broader arrival sequence shown in the video: the image was taken just before the greetings, while the video shows Banerjee greeting Modi. On that evidence, the claim that she did not greet him is contradicted.

YouturnPolitics & government

இங்கு முதலில் உள்ள போட்டோ:- வெளிமாநில தொழிலாளர்கள் என்ற பெயரில் சிலரை கான்கிராஸ் ராகுல் சந்தித்தது. இரண்டாவதாக உள்ள போட்டோ:- முதல் போட்டோவில் வெளிமாநில பெண் என்ற பெயரில் நடித்து ஷூட்டிங் முடிந்தவுடன் தனது காரில் புறப்பட்டு சென்ற போட்டோ.

Publisher’s rating: Fake

FACTLYPolitics & government

Pakistan has accepted the entire J&K as part of India. A map on the Pakistan government’s website shows the same

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a screenshot of a map on Pakistan’s government COVID-19 website, which was presented as proof that Pakistan had accepted all of Jammu and Kashmir as part of India. The review found that the website embedded a Bing Maps COVID-19 tracker; Pakistan’s government had not created the map. Its appearance was therefore not, by itself, evidence of a change in Pakistan’s position on the territory. [S1: “A screenshot of the Indian map (showing entire J&K as part of India) taken from the Pakistan government website (http://covid.gov.pk/) is being shown as proof.”; “The Pakistan government embedded the Bing Maps COVID-19 tracker on their website. They did not create the map.”] The decisive qualification was that the map’s depiction varied according to where it was viewed. The review reports that the entire region appeared as part of India when the site was accessed from India, but that views from other countries showed it as disputed territory. FACTLY said it checked this by asking users to provide screenshots from outside India, and received examples from the United States and Germany. [S1: “Bing Maps show the country boundaries based upon on the country it is accessed from.”; “FACTLY received screenshots of the website from the USA and Germany which do not show J&K as a part of India but were represented by a grey-dotted line i.e. a disputed territory.”] Accordingly, the India-specific display did not establish that Pakistan had accepted the territory as part of India: it reflected how the embedded mapping service displayed boundaries based on the viewer’s location. The review also noted that the Pakistan website had since removed the embedded map, while the same map could still be seen on Bing. [S1: “So, what is seen on the Pakistan website is how Google or Bing Maps are designed, not necessarily Pakistan accepting the status of the disputed territory.”; “The Pakistan website has now removed the embedded map, but the same map can be seen on the Bing website.”]

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Suba Veerapandian tweet on Jothimani

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim was that Suba Veerapandian tweeted that he supported Jothimani because she had given him food, and that he criticized Karu. Nagarajan for speaking disrespectfully about her. The review places the claim in the aftermath of a heated TV debate between Jothimani, a Congress member, and Nagarajan, a BJP member, which prompted people to post online in support of either participant. [S1]

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: misinformation about DMK’s Myanmar branch

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a Facebook post alleging that the DMK had stolen its name and symbol from a party in Burma (now Myanmar). The post included a photograph of an identity publication issued by the Burma Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a caption accusing the DMK of copying it. The review says the circulated post was a screenshot of an earlier Facebook post from 2019. (“இந்த பதிவில், கடந்த 2019ம் ஆண்டில் வெளியான மற்றொரு ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவின் ஸ்கிரின்ஷாட்டை இணைத்துள்ளனர்.”; “இந்த ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில், பர்மா திராவிட முன்னேற்றக் கழகம் வெளியிட்ட அடையாள இதழ் பற்றிய புகைப்படத்தை பகிர்ந்துள்ளனர்.”) The review’s central explanation is that the Burma organization was a DMK branch, not the source from which the DMK took its name and symbol. It says the identity publication itself identified it as the DMK’s Burma branch and gave 1950 as its founding year. The review contrasts that with the DMK’s founding on September 17, 1949, which it says is also stated on the party’s official website. (“அதனை உற்றுப் பார்த்தாலே, திமுகவின் பர்மா கிளை இது என்றும், அது 1950ல் தொடங்கப்பட்டது என்றும் தெளிவாக தெரியும்.”; “திமுக தொடங்கப்பட்டது 1949ம் ஆண்டு, செப்டம்பர் 17ம் தேதி ஆகும்.”) According to the review, the Burma branch was established by Tamils living there, following the formation of the DMK, and used the party’s name and symbol with “Burma” added before the name. It says the allegation arose from misunderstanding that branch relationship and reports that the claim circulated on Twitter in December 2019. Its conclusion is that the Burma DMK was a branch established in 1950, rather than the origin of the DMK’s name or symbol. (“அப்படித்தான் இந்த பர்மா திமுகவும் அந்நாட்டில் வாழ்ந்த தமிழர்களால் தொடங்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறது.”; “கட்சிக்குப் பெயருக்கு முன்னால் மட்டும் பர்மா என சேர்த்துள்ளனர்.”; “இந்த தகவல் முதலில் ட்விட்டர் மூலமாக 2019 டிசம்பர் மாதத்தில் பரவ”)