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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: Four president in charges appointed for BJP Tamil Nadu

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned reports that four people had been appointed as new BJP office-bearers in Tamil Nadu. Fact Crescendo’s review says Tamil-language media first published the report, which then circulated on Facebook. The review records that BJP Tamil Nadu general secretary Vanathi Srinivasan denied it and that Jaya Plus, News 18 and News 7 removed their reports after the denial. The review says it was still able to view a News18 post shared on the outlet’s official Facebook page on November 8, although that post was later deleted. It does not provide the post’s full contents in the supplied excerpt. Its stated findings are that, after Tamilisai Soundararajan became governor of Telangana, no new Tamil Nadu BJP president had yet been appointed, and that Srinivasan had denied the reported appointments. The review adds that a Tamil Nadu BJP president would be formally announced by the party leadership. On the evidence described in the review, the reported appointments were not established: the party official denied the news, and the review’s account says the state unit had no newly appointed president. The article’s displayed result is “False.”

NewtralPolitics & government

Vox ha sido el partido que ha llevado al banquillo a los golpistas

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim was made by Rocío Monasterio, Vox’s leader in the Community of Madrid, during a debate on laSexta. She said Vox had been the party that brought the Catalan politicians to trial. Newtral’s review says she was referring to politicians convicted by Spain’s Supreme Court, and examines whether Vox initiated the judicial process—not whether Vox later participated in it. The review reports that Vox joined the case as a popular prosecution, but that the case began with a complaint filed by the prosecution service. It says the then attorney general, José Manuel Maza, filed that complaint in October 2017 against former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and 13 other former members of the Catalan government. The complaint alleged rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds. Newtral says it confirmed with the public prosecutor’s office that this was the first complaint filed and that the process was initiated by the prosecution service, not Vox. It also reports that National Court judge Carmen Lamela admitted the complaint and scheduled questioning of the Catalan politicians as suspects. On the evidence described, Vox’s participation as a popular prosecution did not make it the party that initiated the case.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Ein vermeintliches Zitat von Angela Merkel wird zusammen mit einem Foto der Bundeskanzlerin über soziale Medien verbreitet. «Ich bin damals in der DDR nicht froh gewesen, dass das Volk was zu sagen hatte, nachdem es das viele Jahrzehnte nicht hatte...», soll sie bei einem Besuch des damaligen US-Präsidenten Barack Obama im Jahr 2016 gesagt haben

Publisher’s rating: Das Zitat ist aus dem Zusammenhang genommen, nicht vollständig und damit nicht korrekt wiedergegeben. Durch den fehlenden Kontext bekommt das Zitat eine andere Bedeutung als in der ursprünglichen Rede Merkels.

The claim concerns a social-media post attributing a shortened statement about the East German people gaining a voice to Angela Merkel during Barack Obama’s 2016 visit. The dpa review identifies the source as their joint press conference on November 17, 2016, and gives the fuller wording of the passage. In it, Merkel first objects to groups claiming “we are the people” while excluding others, before referring to her feelings about the East German people having a say after decades without one. The excerpted post leaves out that framing, which changes what her remark appears to mean. The review explains that Merkel was contrasting two uses of the phrase “Wir sind das Volk”: its association with the 1989 Peaceful Revolution and its later use in demonstrations called by PEGIDA. In the review’s account, the passage contrasts people gaining a voice through political change with the use of “the people” by groups as a means of excluding others. This context makes the circulated fragment misleading as a representation of her point.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Lal Krishna Advani said Modiji, I have worked hard to build BJP, you should at least build a water kiosk on my name.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a Hindi message shared alongside a photograph of BJP leader LK Advani. Its English translation attributed to him a request that Modi build a water kiosk in his name, supposedly as recognition for Advani’s work building the BJP. The review examined that specific attribution, rather than whether a water kiosk existed or had been built.

Projeto ComprovaPolitics & government

O Presidente Jair Bolsonaro vem devolvendo a credibilidade e a perspectiva para o nosso país, que foi totalmente devastado economicamente pelos governos petistas. Diferentemente da mídia nacional, a imprensa estrangeira vem dando destaque aos feitos importantes do novo governo.

Publisher’s rating: Contexto Errado - Post usa trechos de uma coluna do dia 8 de janeiro como se fosse atual para dizer que, ao contrário dos meios de comunicação brasileiros, a imprensa estrangeira vem dando destaque aos feitos importantes do novo governo.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

«Deutschland ist spätestens im Jahr 2020 nicht mehr regierbar»: Dieses bedrohliche Szenario soll der ehemalige Leiter der US-Geheimdienste NSA und CIA, Michael Hayden, in der «Washington Post» beschrieben haben. Schlimmer noch: Die inneren Spannungen in Deutschland, bedingt etwa durch «Massenarbeitslosigkeit» und «Werteverfall», würden sich in einem «Bürgerkrieg» entladen. So jedenfalls wird er in verschiedenen Beiträgen in sozialen Medien zitiert

Publisher’s rating: Der damalige CIA-Chef Hayden hat das nicht gesagt.

The claim attributes a prediction about Germany becoming ungovernable by 2020, with social tensions leading to civil war, to former CIA and NSA chief Michael Hayden and says he made it in the Washington Post. The review traces the allegation to an article about a speech Hayden gave in Kansas in 2008, rather than treating the social-media quotation as an established passage from the newspaper. It reports that the Washington Post article does not mention mass unemployment, a coming civil war in Germany or the year 2020. The review also compares the allegation with the text of Hayden’s Kansas State University speech, which it says is available on the CIA website. The speech discusses immigration and the challenges of integrating immigrants: Hayden described a risk of unrest and extremism in host countries. But the review says it found no reference in the speech connecting Germany with civil war, mass unemployment or a decline in values, and no statement—literal or equivalent—that Germany would be ungovernable by around 2020. To check whether the alleged wording appeared elsewhere in the named records, the review reports searches of the CIA website and Washington Post archive using queries that included “germany 2020” and “michael hayden germany 2020”; neither search returned a matching result. Taken together, the cited newspaper article and speech do not support the social-media attribution. The limited searches are described as checks, not proof that no related wording could exist anywhere else.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Auf der Webseite «neopresse.com» wird behauptet, Grünen-Parteichef Robert Habeck befürworte ein «Bargeldverbot». Als Quelle dafür wird ein Interview Habecks auf dem Portal «watson.de» angegeben.

Publisher’s rating: Habeck hat sich in dem Interview nicht für ein Bargeldverbot ausgesprochen.

The fact-check examines a neopresse.com claim that Green Party leader Robert Habeck supported a general ban on cash payments, citing an interview with him on watson.de. It identifies the interview as having appeared on October 1, 2019, and notes that Habeck was discussing housing policy when he called for an upper limit on cash purchases. The relevant passage concerned buying homes and apartments with cash, not cash payments in general. The distinction is central to the check: Habeck said that routing property purchases through banks would make money flows more traceable and help dry up a pool of illicit funds. The fact-check concludes that describing this as support for a “Bargeldverbot” suggests a general prohibition that the cited interview does not establish. The excerpt does not describe additional verification methods beyond examining the interview passage.