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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

Bandhu Prakash Pal is affiliated to Bharatiya Janata Party

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned whether Bandhu Prakash Pal, a schoolteacher killed with his family in Murshidabad, was a BJP worker. FACTLY’s review says the deaths occurred on 8 October 2019 and describes how claims of Pal’s party affiliation were being used to frame the murders as politically motivated. The review’s evidence on affiliation includes statements from people who knew him and from a local BJP figure. Pal’s mother, Maya Pal, told the Indian Express that he had no association with BJP, TMC or RSS; the review also says relatives rejected claims that he belonged to a political party. His neighbour Manoj Sarkar, identified as a BJP district committee leader, said Pal was not associated with any political party. These accounts directly address whether Pal was a BJP worker, though the excerpt does not describe independent records establishing his political affiliations. The review separately reports that West Bengal Police characterized the case as apparently involving personal enmity rather than politics. That assessment concerns the murder’s motive, not by itself Pal’s party affiliation. The evidence specifically bearing on affiliation is the family’s denial and Sarkar’s statement. FACTLY concluded that the claim was false.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Modi Tamil Nadu video

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that a video of Narendra Modi walking along a road with a large crowd on both sides was filmed in Tamil Nadu and showed his popularity there. FACTLY’s review identifies the footage as showing Modi after voting in Gujarat’s 2017 elections, not an event in Tamil Nadu. It reports that the clip shows him greeting the crowd while displaying his inked finger. The review describes how it traced the clip’s origin: it fragmented the video into keyframes and used reverse image search. This led to a result titled “Gujarat Elections 2017: PM Narendra Modi Votes in Sabarmati.” A search on YouTube then surfaced an NDTV news video showing the same scene from another angle. FACTLY reports that the NDTV video was aired on December 13, 2017. The comparison rests on matching details across the two videos: Modi is in the same clothes, shows his inked finger to the crowd, and is accompanied by the same people. The NDTV video’s description places the vote at booth 115 at Nishan High School in Ahmedabad’s Ranip locality, followed by Modi walking down the road as a crowd gathered. These details support the conclusion that the circulating footage was from Gujarat, rather than Tamil Nadu.

NewtralPolitics & government

Sánchez ha preferido en la Diputación de Barcelona a ERC y el PDeCAT que al PP

Publisher’s rating: Verdad a medias

The claim concerned the agreement that enabled socialist Nuria Marín to become president of the Barcelona Provincial Council after the 26 May 2019 local elections. García Egea said Sánchez had preferred ERC and the PDeCAT over the PP. The review says the agreement behind Marín’s election was instead signed by the PSC and Junts per Catalunya, and that ERC did not participate in it. That distinction matters because the PDeCAT connection is indirect: the review explains that the PDeCAT was the party most represented in Junts’s municipal election lists. It also reports that the council had 51 members: the PSC and ERC each held 16 seats, Junts had 7, En Comú Podem 5, Ciudadanos 4, the PP 2, and Tot per Terrasa 1. Given those numbers, Junts’s position was decisive. The PSC–Junts pact secured 23 votes for Marín; the review says the only way to prevent her election would have required the PP or Ciudadanos to support the ERC candidate. The review’s account therefore supports the existence of a PSC–Junts pact, not the claim that the presidency agreement was made with ERC. It also supplies the qualification that Junts included substantial PDeCAT representation, which helps explain the reference to that party. Its stated basis includes the PSC–Junts investiture agreement and the council’s composition.

NewtralPolitics & government

Lacalle [PP] proponía el pasado 28 de abril privatizar las pensiones

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns Pedro Sánchez’s remarks at a campaign event in Jaén, where he said Daniel Lacalle, then associated with the PP, had proposed privatizing pensions on 28 April and had advocated a 20–25% reduction. The review says Sánchez invoked Lacalle while announcing a plan to address the effects of U.S. tariffs; the pension remark was brief. It identifies Lacalle as the PP’s economic lead in the previous elections and notes that he left his congressional seat in May 2019. The review traces the allegation to a March interview with El Economista. In the initially published answer, Lacalle discussed pension cuts in other countries, saying that “the debate” was how much pensions were cut, and listing 20%, 30% or 40%. The review says this was not a proposal to privatize pensions. It also notes that the PP’s election programme contained no proposal to that effect. The review explains that the initial interview account was incomplete: El Economista later published a recording and fuller transcript after political criticism of Lacalle’s remarks. In the fuller account, Lacalle said he did not want pensions reduced and opposed that outcome. The review also recounts his explanation on laSexta’s Al Rojo Vivo. On the evidence presented, the remarks concerned outcomes he attributed to other countries’ tax-based approaches, not a proposal by Lacalle to privatize pensions or reduce them by the figures Sánchez cited. Newtral says it asked the PSOE for the reference supporting Sánchez’s words but had not received a response at the time of the review.