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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: TN Minister Rajendra Balaji says Tamilians are not Indian

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The review investigates a viral Facebook news card attributed to Tamil Nadu minister Rajendra Balaji, which purported to quote him saying that no Tamil person in India is a true Indian. It reports that the post circulated with a call to share it and that the card had no channel logo or name, included a personal name or initials, and contained spelling errors. The review concludes that the card was fabricated, not an authentic report of his remarks. To check the attribution, the review distinguishes the viral quote from Balaji’s remarks in a Thanthi TV live programme. It says he spoke about the DMK and Congress having watched while Tamils were killed in Eelam, and that he had argued a person with Tamil sentiment should govern Tamil Nadu and a person with Indian sentiment should govern India. The review explicitly says he did not say, in that appearance, that Tamils were not true Indians. The review also describes examining the card with Fotoforensics.com and says that analysis supported its conclusion that the card had been fabricated. Taken together, its account of the actual television remarks and the card’s apparent defects addresses the central attribution: the inflammatory statement in the viral post was not supported by the cited appearance, and the card was not genuine. The review labels the Facebook post’s information false.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: AIADMK members thanked EPS and OPS

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned a viral photograph that appeared to show AIADMK members thanking Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) and O. Panneerselvam (OPS) with banners after they had called for restrictions on banners that obstruct the public. The review says the image spread on social media and was shared by a Facebook user on September 21, 2019. It also places the claim amid public calls against disruptive banners after a young woman, Subasree, died when a fallen banner caused her to lose control of her two-wheeler and be struck by a lorry. The investigation compared details in the viral image with the apparent circumstances of the claimed event. It noted that the image carried an ANI logo, but the banner used only the leaders’ names, rather than their usual official titles, and included wording that could be read as referring to a party general council meeting. Those clues led the reviewers to investigate the image’s earlier provenance rather than accept the social-media caption at face value. The review reports using reverse-image search and finding an earlier post from September 11, 2017, associated with the EPS–OPS factions’ general council meeting. It concludes that the older photograph had been edited and recirculated with a false interpretation: it did not document AIADMK members putting up banners to thank the leaders for restricting banners.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Mamata Banerjee accepting Ramayan from Amit Shah

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a picture circulated as showing Mamata Banerjee accepting a Ramayan from Amit Shah. FACTLY reports that the picture instead derives from their meeting in New Delhi on 19 September 2019, when Banerjee gave Shah a letter about people excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The image was altered to make the letter appear to be a book or document bearing “Jai Shree Ram.”

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan with his 2 wives

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerns a specific photograph shared on Facebook as showing K. Anbazhagan, then DMK general secretary, seated with his two wives. The review says the post identified an older woman and a younger woman as his wives. Its investigation distinguishes the claim that Anbazhagan had two wives—which it says was true—from the claim that both women pictured were his wives. To check who was in the image, the review reports showing it to a friend of Anbazhagan’s family and asking for an explanation. That person identified the older woman as Anbazhagan’s mother, Sornambal, and the younger woman as his second wife, Santhakumari. The review also reports that his first wife, Vetriselvi, died before he married Santhakumari. This chronology explains why a photograph of his mother and second wife does not show both wives together. The review’s conclusion is therefore specific to the photograph’s identification: it says the people pictured are Anbazhagan, his mother, and his second wife, not Anbazhagan with both wives. It does not dispute that he had two wives; it says the first wife died before the second marriage.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Der US-Botschafter in Deutschland, Richard Grenell, wird in Internet-Beiträgen mit den Worten zitiert, Deutschland sei bis heute ein von den USA abhängiges Land (US-Protektorat). Zudem soll Grenell einer Nachrichtenagentur FNA gesagt haben, dass sein Land womöglich zusätzlich viele Soldaten nach Deutschland schicken müsse, sollten sich deutsche Politiker Anweisungen aus Washington widersetzen.

Publisher’s rating: Nach Angaben der US-Botschaft in Berlin stammen diese Äußerungen nicht von Botschafter Grenell. Hinter der «Nachrichtenagentur FNA» verbirgt sich nach den Worten ihrer Betreiber eine «Fake News Agency». Das Interview mit US-Botschafter Grenell ist reine Erfindung.

Projeto ComprovaPolitics & government

Bolsonaro, primeiro você ENGAVETA o projeto do #MaiaTraidorDaPatria Quando estiver no último dia do prazo, você VETA TOTALMENTE esta porcaria. @RodrigoMaia não vai ter tempo de derrubar o seu veto e a lei não vai valer na próxima eleição. A vingança perfeita.

Publisher’s rating: Evidência comprovada - É verdade que, se o presidente da República aguardar até o final do prazo para vetar o projeto que altera lei eleitoral, a eleição de 2020 será disputada com as regras atuais

NewtralPolitics & government

El hombre que aparece en esta imagen no es el Delegado de Gobierno en Valencia

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The image circulated with the claim that the man seen on the right using a mobile phone was Juan Carlos Fulgencio Tejedor, the government delegate in Valencia. Newtral reports that it spread in connection with the damage caused by the DANA in Spain’s eastern region. The review rejects the identification: the Government Delegation denied that the person in the image was Fulgencio Tejedor, and the Guardia Civil also confirmed he was not the man shown. The review describes how it checked the identification. The Government Delegation told Newtral that, according to information it had received from the Guardia Civil, the man was a truck driver who had lent his vehicle for rescue work after the “gota fría.” Separately, the press office of the Guardia Civil’s Alicante command—where the delegate had travelled because of the DANA—confirmed that the person was not Fulgencio Tejedor. These accounts address the identity of the person in the image, rather than merely the wider disaster context.