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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

FACTLYPolitics & government

Women being paid for their participation in Shaheen Bagh protests against CAA.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video said to show women being paid to join the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh. FACTLY distinguishes the protests from the footage: it reports that women had been protesting at Shaheen Bagh since 15 December 2019, while the video was already online before those protests began. That chronology undermines the claim that the footage documents payment for participation in those protests. To check the video’s provenance, the review says it searched Google using the keywords “Money distributed during Congress rally.” It found the same video in search results, with a timestamp of 30 October 2017 and the title “Congress Rally distribution of money.” The review also describes women in the footage wearing Congress scarves and displaying flags while collecting money. These details point to a pre-existing video associated in the search results with a Congress rally, not to the later Shaheen Bagh demonstrations. The review says it found no additional information about the video. Its conclusion therefore rests on the reported evidence that the same footage was online by 2017—more than two years before the Shaheen Bagh protests began—not on independent information identifying who received the money or why it was distributed. The footage’s existence before the protests is sufficient to show that it cannot depict women being paid to participate in those later protests.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Agitation video in Mangalore on NRC, CAA and NPR.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a video circulated as showing agitation in Mangalore over NRC, CAA and NPR. Its investigation identifies the footage instead as a funeral procession for Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, and says it is unrelated to agitation in India. The review’s conclusion therefore addresses the specific video and event in the claim, rather than only the broader subject of protests or citizenship policies. (S1: “A video is being shared widely on Facebook with a claim that it shows agitation in Mangalore on NRC, CAA, and NPR.”; “The video shows the funeral procession of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. It is not related to any agitation in India.”) To investigate, the review reports using Yandex reverse image search on screenshots from the video. It says this found similar footage, including a post by a Geo News reporter describing a large funeral procession in Iran for Soleimani, as well as similar visuals in an ANI News video about his funeral. The review also notes Iranian flags visible in the footage. These comparisons and visual details support its identification of the video as funeral footage, not a Mangalore protest. (S1: “When the screenshots of the video were run through the Yandex Reverse Image Search, many similar videos were found in the search results.”; “Similar visuals can be also seen in the video uploaded by ‘ANI News’ on the ‘funeral of Qasem Soleimani’. Also, in the video, Iranian flags can be seen.”)

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: H Raja criticized Pon Radhakrishnan

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The review investigated social-media cards attributed to News 7 Tamil and News 18 Tamil Nadu. One card alleged that H. Raja said Pon. Radhakrishnan acted like someone with mental-health problems; the other attributed a threat against Raja to Radhakrishnan. The review says the cards were shared together in a Facebook post on January 6, 2020. It also notes that the reference to Radhakrishnan as a Union minister suggested the cards might have originated during his time in that role, but the excerpt does not establish when the cards were first made. To check the allegations, the reviewers searched for reporting of the supposed exchange and found no such news report. They then examined the cards: dates that would appear on the outlets’ cards had been removed, and the Tamil fonts and designs differed from those outlets’ formats. Because those observations raised doubts about authenticity, the reviewers contacted the two television outlets. The review reports that both confirmed the cards were fake. The review also reports asking a senior BJP official about the claims. The official said Raja had never spoken that way about Radhakrishnan and called the card fake. Based on the outlets’ confirmation and that response, the review concluded that the circulated cards were fabricated; it does not present the alleged remarks as an authenticated exchange.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

In einem Facebook-Post wird Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel die Aussage zugeschrieben, wir seien gezwungen, "unser System dem Islam anzupassen". Dies solle Gewalt vorbeugen. Da der Satz neben einem Bild von Merkel am Redepult zu sehen ist, entsteht der Eindruck, es handle sich hierbei um ein Zitat der Bundeskanzlerin.

Publisher’s rating: Ein solches Zitat von Angela Merkel ist nicht bekannt. Es gibt aber Aussagen von ihr zu diesem Thema, die dem angeblichen Zitat widersprechen.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Modi travelled in boat due to Anti-CAA protests in Kolkata

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: Partly False

The review examined a viral Facebook collage that portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as travelling by boat because protests against him made road travel impossible. It identifies the post as shared by the Facebook account Troll Mafia and says it combined photographs of Modi with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Modi on a boat, and a protest against him. The review says the images were from Modi’s January 11 visit to West Bengal, but argues that their arrangement suggested a false reason for the boat journey. (S1: “இதில், பிரதமர் மோடி, மேற்கு வங்க முதல்வர் மம்தா பானர்ஜியை சந்தித்த புகைப்படம் மற்றும் மோடி கப்பலில் செல்லும் புகைப்படம், மோடிக்கு எதிரான போராட்டத்தின் புகைப்படம் ஆகியவற்றை கொலாஜ் முறையில் ஒன்று சேர்த்து, அதில், மேற்கு வங்கத்தில் Go Back Modi போராட்டம் எதிரொலி, படகில் பயணித்த மோடி, என்று குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளனர்.”; “பிரதமர் நரேந்திர மோடி கடந்த ஜனவரி 11ம் தேதி மேற்கு வங்கம் சென்றிருந்தார். மேலே உள்ள ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில் உள்ள புகைப்படங்கள் அனைத்தும் அப்போது எடுக்கப்பட்டதுதான்.”) The review’s key distinction is between how Modi reached his accommodation and how he later travelled to Belur Math. It says he arrived at the West Bengal governor’s residence via Kolkata airport, despite protests, and stayed there. It then explains that he travelled by boat to Belur Math, on the Hooghly riverbank, to visit the Ramakrishna Math headquarters and its historic sites. The review presents the river route as a convenient way to reach the monastery, not as an escape from the protests. (S1: “கொல்கத்தா விமான நிலையம் வழியாகத்தான் பிரதமர் மோடி, மேற்கு வங்க ஆளுநர் மாளிகை சென்றடைந்தார். அங்குதான் அவர் தங்கியிருந்தார்.”; “இந்த மடத்திற்குச் செல்ல பல வழிகள் இருந்தாலும், ஹவுரா மேம்பாலத்தை ஒட்டிய ஆற்று தடத்தில் படகில் செல்வது மிக எளிதாகும். அவ்வாறு பிரதமர் மோடி படகில் சென்றபோது எடுத்த புகைப்படம்தான் இது.”) As evidence for the stated reason, the review says Modi himself had posted about the boat journey on his official Twitter account. It does not reproduce the post’s wording in the supplied excerpt, so that account is reported as the review’s evidence rather than independently verified here. The review’s conclusion is that the collage used genuine photographs from the visit but combined them to imply an unsupported connection between the protests and the boat trip; that mixture of true and false information is why it rates the claim partly false. (S1: “படகில் பயணித்ததற்கான காரணத்தை பிரதமர் மோடியே அவரது அதிகாரப்பூர்வ ட்விட்டர் பக்கத்தில் பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.”; “நாம் ஆய்வு செய்த ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில் உண்மையுடன் தவறான தகவல் கலந்து பகிரப்பட்டதாக, நிரூபிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.”)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Die Überschrift eines Artikels auf dem Portal "jouwatch" besagt, der Grünen-Politiker Anton Hofreiter habe "Massenentlassungen" gefordert

Publisher’s rating: Die Überschrift ist falsch. Hofreiter forderte nicht, dass massenhaft Arbeiter in der Autobranche entlassen werden sollen. Er sprach sich vielmehr im Gespräch mit der "Rheinischen Post" für einen "Zukunftsplan für die Autoindustrie" und für "klare Angebote an die Mitarbeiter der Branche" aus.

NewtralPolitics & government

El portavoz de Alemania en la Comisión Europea se dirige a Roger Torrent

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a video showing Roger Torrent, then president of the Parliament of Catalonia, listening to a man criticize Catalan independence. The message circulating with the video identified the speaker as “the spokesperson for Germany at the European Commission.” The review identifies him instead as Karl Jacobi, a German businessman, and says the encounter took place at a German-speaking executives’ circle lunch at Barcelona’s Círculo Ecuestre in March 2018. The review reports that Jacobi founded and led ComVort Group Worldwide, a Barcelona-based marketing company. It also says the confrontation was covered by El País, Europa Press and La Vanguardia, which described German businesspeople confronting Torrent at the Círculo Ecuestre. The review states that those publications included video of the exchange, connecting their reporting to the same incident rather than merely to the broader political dispute. A further check addressed whether the alleged European Commission role existed: the review says the Commission’s press office confirmed that member states do not have spokespersons in the institution, and that there is therefore no position of “spokesperson for Germany at the European Commission.” It also traces circulation of the claim to at least June 2019, when it appeared on Twitter and the user who shared it corrected it within hours. Together, the identification of the speaker and the Commission’s confirmation undermine the message’s identification of him as a German Commission spokesperson.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Rare picture of Nehru romancing with Edwina Mountbatten

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The review investigated a social-media image presented as showing Jawaharlal Nehru embracing Edwina Mountbatten. It says the post appeared on a Facebook page called “Bharatiya Janata Party Tamil Nadu,” but notes that the page was not the Tamil Nadu BJP’s official page. The investigation also reports that the image was posted there on January 13, 2020, with a caption referring to Nehru fighting for independence. To check the image, the review compared the man pictured with older photographs of Nehru and found differences. It then performed a reverse-image search, which led to material about *Drawing the Line*, a stage play produced by Hampstead Theatre. The review says the same scene appeared in the theatre’s photographs and video clips, and identifies the performers as Silas Carson, playing Nehru, and Lucy Black, playing Edwina Mountbatten. The review further says that another theatre post showed the performers’ own photographs in those roles. It concludes that the image came from a staged scene, not a photograph of Nehru and Mountbatten together, and that it was shared with a false description. The excerpt does not provide the date of the performance or independently detail the reverse-image search results.