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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

DUBAWAPolitics & government

A Facebook post alleges President Trump made derogatory remarks regarding Africans.

Publisher’s rating: Insufficient Evidence

DUBAWA examined a Facebook post alleging that President Trump made derogatory remarks about Africans. The review says the post questioned Africa’s achievements after 50 years of independence, but that its wording did not establish when or where Trump was supposed to have made the remarks. The review treats those missing details as central problems for checking the allegation: without a time or place, it could not corroborate the claim.

台灣事實查核中心Politics & government

網傳「不得了！！」搭配德國總理梅克爾手蒙右眼圖片，暗示她公開支持香港反送中？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim concerned a viral image captioned “不得了！！” that showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel covering her right eye, suggesting she was publicly expressing support for Hong Kong’s anti-extradition protests. The review found that the image was not a photograph of Merkel making that gesture: it was a composite created by German magazine Der Spiegel for a feature about Merkel’s Hong Kong dilemma, published ahead of her China visit.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Kim Jong-un has warned the people who are conspiring to kill Narendra Modi.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a photo of an article circulating on social media that attributed a warning about a conspiracy to kill Narendra Modi to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. FACTLY examined the article shown in the photo, which it said appeared on the “janta se rishata” website, and traced its credited information source to Oriental Times. The review reports that Oriental Times’ domain had expired by the time of its investigation. The review also says it searched Google for comments by Kim Jong-un about Modi and found no credible news agency reporting such comments. It notes that the Oriental Times India Twitter account had published similar articles saying Kim Jong-un praised Modi, but does not present those posts as independent confirmation of the warning. On that basis, the review concluded that the alleged warning was not supported: the article’s credited source was no longer available, and the review found no credible news-source coverage of the attributed statements. The supplied excerpt does not identify the people allegedly conspiring, provide a date or place for the supposed warning, or reproduce the underlying social-media post beyond describing the photo.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Central Government is paying a monthly rent of Rs. 2 lakhs for Chidambaram’

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post claimed that since 2014 the Central Government paid Rs. 2 lakhs in monthly rent for P. Chidambaram to live in a privately rented flat in Delhi’s Jor Bagh, owned by his wife, Nalini, and son, Karti. The review distinguishes two claims that could be conflated: reports that Chidambaram lived in the flat and paid that amount, and the post’s assertion that the government paid it. The review says the flat was reportedly jointly owned by Nalini and Karti and that a separate website reported Chidambaram had lived there since 2014 and paid the monthly rent; it says that website did not claim the government paid it. The review describes checking the image with Google Reverse Image Search, which it says identified the building as being in Jor Bagh and connected it to Nalini and Karti. It also points to a News18 article containing a fuller photo of the house. For the government-payment question, it explains that Rajya Sabha MPs are allotted houses, rather than having the government pay rent for private homes they choose to occupy. It notes that Chidambaram was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and that his allotted-house address was listed on the Rajya Sabha website. On that evidence, the review’s conclusion is that the government did not pay rent for this privately rented Jor Bagh flat. Even if the reported rent and residence details are accurate, they do not establish the post’s claim about who paid. The review states that an MP living in a private house other than an allotted one has to pay the rent, and concludes that any rent for Chidambaram’s flat was his own expense.

NewtralPolitics & government

Un despacho de abogados hace campaña para reformar el Reglamento del Congreso

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The message circulating on WhatsApp and Change.org urged people to forward it and sign what it described as a popular legislative initiative to change the rules of the Congress of Deputies. It attributed the initiative to Estudio Jurídico Rodríguez & Hermosilla and called for changes including to deputies’ pay and pensions. The review reports that the firm told Newtral the message was a hoax: it said no such initiative existed and that its office was not managing one. The firm also said someone had used identifying details of one of its partners to make the false message seem credible. The review explains why the proposed route was a key problem with the claim. According to the firm, those measures could not be changed through a popular legislative initiative. The review points to the Congress rules, which say that a reform is handled through the procedure for bills initiated by Congress and requires a final vote by absolute majority. That procedure does not match the message’s portrayal of a public initiative being organized by the law firm. The message also portrayed parliamentary benefits as current, but the review says some cited provisions had already ceased to apply to deputies whose parliamentary work began after 13 December 2011. It names pension supplements and certain family and Social Security-related benefits among those no longer available to that group. It further says deputies do contribute to the general Social Security system, with Congress paying their contributions. The firm told Newtral it had reported the misuse of the lawyer’s data to the courts and the Data Protection Agency.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Nitin Gadkari says he will give tough time to Nirmala Sitharaman

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False Headline

The review examines a Samayam Tamil Facebook headline suggesting that Nitin Gadkari would put Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman under pressure. It says that reading the headline alone could make it seem as though Gadkari intended to create a new crisis for her or remove her from office. The review’s central finding is that this impression misrepresents what the accompanying report and Gadkari’s remarks described. According to the review, automobile companies had asked for a reduction in GST to help vehicle sales, and Gadkari said he would press Sitharaman on that request. The review then says it searched for whether Gadkari had recently made the remarks and found his speech at a SIAM Conclave. It describes his words there as a commitment to work with Sitharaman on necessary measures to address problems the automobile sector faced because of GST—not as a threat or personal confrontation. The review concludes that the headline’s forceful wording could give readers the false impression of a conflict between Gadkari and Sitharaman. Its finding concerns the headline’s framing: the account it provides is that Gadkari intended to raise an industry request with the finance minister and work with her on measures, rather than threaten her.

台灣事實查核中心Politics & government

網傳「美國多州爆發獨立運動」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The report investigates a specific viral story: that Alaska’s Independence Party held a large demonstration seeking separation from the United States, setting off independence movements in Texas, California, North Dakota and South Dakota. The alleged story was attributed to Russia’s Sputnik News on August 27. The report says it searched Sputnik’s Chinese- and English-language websites and found no such item dated August 27; it also reports finding no corresponding coverage in U.S. national or local media. These checks address both the story’s stated source and whether the claimed demonstration and ensuing movement were reported elsewhere. [S1: 查核中心檢索俄羅斯衛星通訊社官網的中文版和英文版，8月27日無相關新聞；美國主流媒體和地方媒體也無相關報導。] The report also interviewed Chen Yi-hsin, a distinguished chair professor in political science at Chinese Culture University. Chen said that although many U.S. states have independence movements, they had not recently erupted into a large-scale wave. He characterized the Alaska Independence Party as a small party with little influence and said its independence movement was not large. The report distinguishes that limited, ongoing political activity from the viral story’s claim of a large Alaska protest followed by a multi-state surge; it concludes that the reported crisis and cascade were not substantiated. [S1: 陳一新指出，美國在共和黨、民主黨兩大政黨之外，還有很多小黨，阿拉斯加獨立黨就是其中之一，但這些政黨爭取獨立的影響力都很小，獨立運動規模不大。] [S1: 美國許多州都有獨立運動，但近期並未爆發獨立運動風潮，也未有報導所稱的「危機降臨自家門口」。]

Pesa CheckPolitics & government

Robert Mugabe is dead

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

Related reporting supports the claim that Robert Mugabe is dead. One report identifies him as Zimbabwe’s former president and states that he “died in September 2019 aged 95.” This directly addresses both the person named in the claim and the fact of his death. A separate article describes the public response when news of Mugabe’s death broke on 6 September 2019 and refers to his body arriving at Rufaro Stadium. Together, these excerpts place the report of his death in September 2019; the first provides his age, while the second supplies a specific date for the news breaking. These are related reports, not the original Pesa Check review, and the supplied excerpts do not describe the review’s own checking methods.