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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

Boatos.orgPolitics & government

GRANDE CARLOS DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE: "DITA DURA". Para: "Ninguém é igual a ninguém. Todo ser humano é um estranho ímpar." - Carlos Drummond de Andrade - Época da ditadura .... Na época da 'chamada' ditadura... Podíamos namorar dentro do carro até a meia- noite sem perigo de sermos mortos por bandidos e traficantes. Mas, não podíamos falar mal do presidente. Podíamos ter o INPS como único plano de saúde sem morrer a míngua nos corredores dos hospitais. Mas não podíamos falar mal do presidente. Podíamos comprar armas e munições à vontade, pois o governo sabia quem era cidadão de bem,quem era bandido e quem era terrorista, Mas, não podíamos falar mal do Presidente. Podíamos paquerar a funcionária, a menina das contas a pagar ou a recepcionista sem correr o risco de sermos processados por “assédio sexual”, Mas, não podíamos falar mal do Presidente. Não usávamos eufemismos hipócritas para fazer referências a raças (ei! negão!), credos (esse crente aí!) ou preferências sexuais (fala! sua bicha!) e não éramos processados por “discriminação” por isso, Mas, não podíamos falar mal do presidente. Podíamos tomar nossa redentora cerveja no fim do expediente do trabalho para relaxar e dirigir o carro para casa, sem o risco de sermos jogados à vala da delinquência, sendo preso por estar “alcoolizado”, Mas, não podíamos falar mal do Presidente. Podíamos cortar a goiabeira do quintal, empesteada de taturanas, sem que isso constituísse crime ambiental, Mas, não podíamos falar mal do presidente. Podíamos ir a qualquer bar ou boate, em qualquer bairro da cidade, de carro, de ônibus, de bicicleta ou a pé, sem nenhum medo de sermos assaltados, sequestrados ou assassinados, Mas, não podíamos falar mal do presidente. Hoje a única coisa que podemos fazer... ...é falar mal do presidente! Que merda !”

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: PM Modi posing for camera with garbage

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with plastic waste. Its accompanying post alleged that garbage collected from the street had been brought into an air-conditioned auditorium so the BJP could stage a cleanup for the cameras. Fact Crescendo says it investigated the video’s background and identified it as footage from a government event held in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, on September 11, 2019—not a staged auditorium cleanup. The review identifies the event as “Swachhata Hi Seva 2019.” It says Modi spent time with women who belonged to self-help groups and worked to separate plastic from waste for recycling. The footage, according to the review, shows them demonstrating that work to him. It also reports that Modi called for public cooperation in tackling plastic pollution. This event context contradicts the post’s account that street rubbish was brought inside merely to create a photo opportunity. To check the video’s background, the review says it consulted reporting about the event and Modi’s official Twitter post. It quotes that post as saying: “As we begin ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ and pledge to reduce single use plastic, I sat down with those who segregate plastic waste.” The review concludes that the viral post’s description was false.

NewtralPolitics & government

El Parlamento Europeo va a obligar a España a quitar calles dedicadas a Carrillo o la Pasionaria

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim arose from a message circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook. It said the European Parliament had condemned communism and Stalinism and required Spain to remove the names of historical figures such as Santiago Carrillo and La Pasionaria from monuments, streets, squares and parks, as well as to teach about communist crimes in schools. The review identifies the relevant document as a resolution on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe, approved on September 19—not a binding EU rule. The Parliament’s press department described it as “a political declaration” that could not compel a member state to comply. The resolution did call on member states to commemorate victims of Stalinism and Nazism and to include the history and consequences of totalitarian regimes in school curricula. It also noted that monuments and memorials glorifying totalitarian regimes remained in public spaces in some member states. But the review’s comparison of those provisions with the viral message shows the key distinction: the resolution’s references to education and public monuments do not amount to an order to remove the named streets or monuments. The review concludes that the resolution was not binding and that the Parliament therefore did not require Spain to take those actions.

NewtralPolitics & government

El Parlamento Europeo en mayo volvió a recordar a España que éramos el único país de Europa que tenía al dictador en un mausoleo público

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Carmen Calvo made the claim in an interview on Herrera en COPE on September 24, the day the Supreme Court upheld the exhumation of Francisco Franco’s remains from the Valley of the Fallen. Newtral reports that it asked Calvo’s press team for the source; the team referred it to an October 25, 2018 European Parliament resolution concerning the rise of neofascist violence in Europe. The review compared the claim with what the Parliament’s resolution and its own institutional explanation actually said. The resolution included the Spanish Congress’s decision to exhume Franco, but the passage that reportedly described the Parliament as welcoming that decision was not included as written in the final document. The Parliament told Newtral that its resolution did not expressly say Spain was the only European country with a dictator in a public mausoleum. It did refer to the Valley of the Fallen as a memorial complex commemorating war and a place of pilgrimage for the far right. The Parliament also told Newtral that the resolution contained no specific warnings to any country. Calvo’s team pointed to another resolution, on the importance of European historical memory, but Newtral says that document made no specific reference to Spain either. The evidence therefore supports that Parliament addressed Franco’s exhumation and the Valley of the Fallen, but not that it had issued the stated reminder to Spain.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Eps challenges MK Stalin

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a Facebook post saying that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had challenged opposition leader M.K. Stalin to recite any one of the 1,330 Thirukkural couplets without a mistake, promising to give him the chief minister’s chair if he succeeded. The review says the post was shared on October 1, 2019, under the name of the Puthiya Thalaimurai television channel. The review’s investigation focused on whether Palaniswami had actually made that specific challenge, rather than on whether the two politicians generally exchanged political criticism. [S1: “இதில், ‘’1330 குறள்களில் ஏதேனும் ஒன்றை பிழையின்றி சொன்னால் முதல்வர் நாற்காலியை தர தயார்,’’ என தமிழக முதல்வர் எடப்பாடி பழனிசாமி, எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் மு.க.ஸ்டாலினுக்கு சவால் விட்டதாகக் கூறியுள்ளனர்.”] The review reports that its searches on Google and YouTube found no news report of the alleged Thirukkural challenge. It also contacted the AIADMK, which could not confirm that Palaniswami had made the statement. These checks did not independently establish that the event was impossible; rather, they found no supporting report and no confirmation from the party in the account provided. [S1: “இப்படி ஒருவேளை செய்தி வெளியாகிருக்குமோ என்ற சந்தேகத்தில் கூகுளில், யூ டியுப்பில் நீண்ட நேரம் தகவல் தேடினோம். அப்படி எதுவும் கிடைக்கவில்லை. இதையடுத்து, அஇஅதிமுக தரப்பில் விவரம் கேட்டோம். எடப்பாடி பழனிசாமி அப்படி பேசினாரா என்பது பற்றி சரியாகத் தெரியவில்லை எனக் கூறிவிட்டனர்.”] The most direct evidence reported was a conversation with Puthiya Thalaimurai senior reporter Mohanraj. According to the review, he said the circulating item was false and that people had fabricated information using the channel’s name. The review also says it examined the news card using FotoForensics and found it was not genuine. Together, these points address the post’s specific attribution and its presentation as a Puthiya Thalaimurai news card. [S1: “புதிய தலைமுறை மூத்த நிருபர் மோகன்ராஜிடம் பேசியபோது, ‘’இது தவறான தகவல். புதிய தலைமுறை பெயரை பயன்படுத்தி சிலர் போலியான தகவலை தயாரித்து வெளியிட்டுள்ளனர்,’’ என்றார்.”]

NewtralPolitics & government

La Ley de Seguridad Nacional la aprobó el PP en solitario

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned Pablo Casado’s statement about the National Security Law passed in 2015. Newtral reports that Casado called it “una ley que aprobó el PP en solitario” while discussing his party’s position on events in Catalonia. The review says it checked the law itself and the records of votes in Congress and the Senate: its listed sources include the law and the two chambers’ voting records. [S1]

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: MK Stalin and Kanimozhi touches Amit Shah feet

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a social-media image said to show DMK MP Kanimozhi bowing at Amit Shah’s feet while DMK leader M.K. Stalin was about to do the same. The accompanying post attributed to them a promise to abandon a Hindi protest. The review says the image was shared online and describes the post as published by Sunil Kavaskar on September 26, 2019. To check the image, the publisher says it used reverse-image search. It found that the underlying photograph had been published in news reports as an image of Amit Shah meeting Nitin Gadkari. The review also traced the separate image of Kanimozhi and Stalin to a 2015 visit by Stalin to Kanimozhi’s home for her birthday, as reported by The Hindu. The review concludes that the viral picture was edited: the two politicians were cut out of the birthday photograph and placed into the Shah–Gadkari image. Thus, the evidence addresses the image itself and supports the finding that it was fabricated, rather than showing Kanimozhi or Stalin touching Shah’s feet.