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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

Pagella PoliticaPolitics & government

«La classifica della #Bbc sui leader che hanno detto più balle durante la pandemia [con Salvini]»

Publisher’s rating: Nì

The claim concerned a screenshot shared by former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta on 6 May: he described a BBC service featuring Donald Trump, Matteo Salvini, and Jair Bolsonaro as a ranking of leaders who had told the most lies during the pandemic. Pagella Politica checked whether the BBC had presented the politicians that way, rather than whether every statement discussed in the service was accurate. The review identifies the service as “Coronavirus: False claims by politicians debunked,” by BBC Reality Check journalist Chris Morris, and says it was dated 16 April 2020. [S1]

NewtralPolitics & government

Quien de verdad decreta la alarma cada 15 días no es el Gobierno. El Gobierno la propone; quien la decreta es el Congreso votando

Publisher’s rating: Verdad a medias

The claim concerns Carmen Calvo’s May 7 interview on RTVE, where she said the Government proposes the state of alarm and Congress decrees it by voting. Newtral checked that statement against the constitutional and statutory rules described in its review. It reports that the Government declares the state of alarm by decree, without first obtaining parliamentary approval; Congress’s vote is required to extend it beyond the initial period of up to 15 days. The review quotes the Constitution: the state of alarm “será declarado por el Gobierno mediante decreto acordado en Consejo de Ministros por un plazo máximo de quince días,” and says that without Congress’s authorization the period cannot be extended. It also cites the law governing states of alarm, which says the Government “podrá declarar el estado de alarma.” Thus, Congress has a decisive role in approving extensions, but the review says Calvo’s wording conflates that role with the Government’s authority to declare the initial state of alarm. Newtral adds that the Government must report to Congress on the declaration and relevant decrees, and that a simple majority suffices to approve an extension. It notes that the state of alarm approved on March 14 was extended four times: March 27, April 10 and 24, and May 6. The vice-president’s press team told Newtral that she was referring to extensions, but the review says her statement did not mention them and omitted that the Government declares the initial state without parliamentary approval.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Photo of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Indira’s father-in-law Yunus Khan and Indira’s husband Feroze Khan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post identified the people in a photo as Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, her father-in-law Yunus Khan, and her husband Feroze Khan. FACTLY’s review examined the identities of the people shown beside Indira Gandhi and found that the post misidentified them: the person next to her was Nicholas Roerich, a Russian artist, and the man beside him was Yunus Khan, a freedom fighter—not Indira Gandhi’s father-in-law. The review says it reverse-searched the posted image using Yandex and found the same photo on Alamy, where the person beside Indira Gandhi was identified as Nicholas Roerich. It then distinguished the two men named Yunus Khan: the photo’s Yunus Khan is identified as a freedom fighter, while the review says Indira Gandhi’s father-in-law was Faredoon Jehangir Ghandy. Thus, the error is not merely a disputed description of a relationship: the post also gives the wrong identity for the man beside Indira Gandhi. The review further points readers to a photo of Indira Gandhi’s husband, Feroze Gandhi, and to another photo showing Nehru, Indira, Roerich, and Yunus Khan. Together, these comparisons support the review’s conclusion that the post’s identification of the people in the image is inaccurate.

NewtralPolitics & government

Audio del exministro socialista José Luis Corcuera criticando al Gobierno

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review examined a circulating audio criticising the Spanish government’s handling of coronavirus, which was shared with text attributing the remarks to former socialist minister José Luis Corcuera. It distinguishes the criticism itself from the claim about who made it: the attribution was false, but the criticism came from a radio presenter, not Corcuera. Newtral identifies the speaker as Walter García Carro, a MixFM presenter, and says the remarks came from an episode of his programme, *La Hora de Walter*. The review reports two pieces of provenance evidence: García Carro acknowledged in a tweet that the comments were his, responding to a post sharing the recording, and he posted the complete programme containing the remarks on another social-media post. This supports the conclusion that the audio was misattributed; it does not establish that the criticism was fabricated or assess its substance.

NewtralPolitics & government

Pedro Sánchez anuncia la aplicación del estado de excepción

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral examined a circulating audio in which a speaker speculated that Spain’s president, Pedro Sánchez, would announce a state of exception in the following days. The audio predicted an announcement on Monday, March 23, or Tuesday, March 24, and said the measure would last “40 ó 50 días.” The review’s account is of a prediction attributed to an unidentified speaker—not an announcement made by Sánchez.