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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

Ghulam Nabi Azad house in Kashmir.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a photo shared on social media as showing Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s house in Kashmir. FACTLY identifies the pictured building instead as Hotel Taj Vivanta Dal in Srinagar, so the image does not establish that the property is Azad’s home. The review describes several checks. A Google reverse image search returned results identifying the building as Hotel Taj Vivanta Dal, and the hotel’s website confirmed that it operates in Kashmir under that name. The particular image used in the post was not found among the hotel website’s photos, so that website confirmation alone did not establish the photo’s provenance. The review says it then found the same hotel photo in a Greater Kashmir article, which identified it as Hotel Taj Vivanta Dal in Srinagar. It also reports that the hotel’s Google Maps photo gallery contained the image. Taken together, those findings identify the building in the circulated image as the hotel, rather than Azad’s house.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Sonia Gandhi functioning as Congress leader from 1988

Publisher’s rating: MIXTURE

The review investigated a Facebook post claiming that Sonia Gandhi had led the Congress party since 1988. The post used lists of party leaders to argue that Congress was a “family party” while other parties were democratic. The review treated the post’s comparisons separately rather than accepting its overall framing as a single all-or-nothing claim. On Congress, the review says the 1988 claim was false: it names Rajiv Gandhi, P. V. Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri among those who served as party president from 1988 onward, and says Sonia Gandhi took the post in 1998. That chronology directly contradicts the claim that she had held the office continuously from 1988. The review also found parts of the post’s other comparisons accurate. It says several BJP leaders held the party presidency after 1988, and that M. Karunanidhi became DMK president in 1969 and remained in the position until his death in 2018. Its overall conclusion was therefore that the Facebook post mixed true and false information, rather than that every part of its comparison was wrong.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturPolitics & government

Nach einer Podiumsdiskussion in ihrem Wahlkreis ist Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) in einigen Medien wegen ihrer spontanen Reaktion auf die Aussage eines AfD-Lokalpolitikers gelobt worden. Dieser hatte bei dem Leserforum in Stralsund behauptet, in Deutschland sei etwa die Meinungsfreiheit «massiv eingeschränkt». Nun wird im Internet verbreitet, der Mann sei gar kein AfD-Politiker, sondern ein «Journalist der linken Presse», der bewusst «total unsinnige Fragen» gestellt habe.

Publisher’s rating: AfD-Politiker Thomas Naulin hat die Fragen gestellt und das auch öffentlich bestätigt.

The allegation concerned the identity of the man who challenged Angela Merkel at an Ostsee-Zeitung readers’ forum in Stralsund. The review says that on 13 August 2019, Thomas Naulin raised claims about democratic deficits and restrictions on fundamental rights, including freedom of expression. Online posts then alleged that the questioner was instead a left-wing journalist pretending to be an AfD member. The review’s account identifies the speaker as Naulin, an AfD politician, and describes several checks supporting that identification. It reports that the Ostsee-Zeitung said Naulin was present and published a photograph of him. In the event video, the questioner introduces himself as a member of the Vorpommern-Rügen district council and the Bergen town council; the review says his name appears on the district council’s membership list. It also reports that he chaired the AfD parliamentary group in Bergen. The review adds a direct confirmation from Naulin himself: on Facebook the day after the event, he commented on the remarks he had made in Stralsund. Taken together, the video identification, listed political roles, newspaper reporting and Naulin’s own post support the conclusion that the questioner was the AfD politician Thomas Naulin, not a journalist posing as one.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Imran Khan sought help from Thirumurugan Gandhi

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media post saying Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had remarked that Pakistan would not be in its current position if he had sought help from Thirumurugan Gandhi, a Tamil activist who had spoken at UN Human Rights Council meetings. The post combined two supposed Thanthi TV news cards: one about a Pakistani request being rejected by the UN Security Council, and another carrying the alleged Imran Khan quote. The review says the first card was genuine and the second was attributed to August 16, 2019. To check the attribution, the review examined Thanthi TV’s Facebook page and compared the alleged card with another card the outlet had published on August 16. It reports finding the first, genuine card, but not finding the alleged Imran Khan card in Thanthi TV’s published material. The review also compared the cards’ design and Tamil typography, which it says did not match Thanthi TV’s usual style. On that basis, the review concluded that the Imran Khan card was fabricated and that the social-media post was false. It notes that Gandhi had attended and spoken at UN Human Rights Council meetings, including about the Thoothukudi police shooting; those facts provide context for the post, but do not substantiate the alleged quote. The review’s stated conclusion rests on its search for the card’s provenance and its design comparison.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Venkaiah Naidu used to stick posters for BJP

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim circulated in a purported Thanthi TV news card, shared alongside a film image, that Venkaiah Naidu had said he put up posters for Vajpayee when Vajpayee visited Andhra Pradesh. The review checked whether Thanthi TV had published the card and whether Naidu had made the quoted remark. It reports that the card’s Tamil font looked different from the broadcaster’s authentic cards and that a search of Thanthi TV’s Facebook page for August 11, 2019 found two cards about Naidu, neither of which contained the viral wording. The review then examined the setting associated with the claim: Naidu’s speech at a book launch in Chennai on August 11, 2019. It says it reviewed coverage of the event and listened to a video of the speech published on Rajya Sabha TV’s YouTube channel. In the speech, Naidu described making announcements by microphone from a horse-drawn cart when Vajpayee visited Nellore, and writing about Vajpayee and the party on walls. He recalled that he had not imagined he would later lead the party alongside Vajpayee and Advani. That account does not support the viral card’s specific assertion that Naidu said he put up posters. The review distinguishes his account of writing on walls and announcing Vajpayee’s visits from the claim that he was a “poster-sticking” party worker. It concludes that the news card was fabricated using Thanthi TV’s name and that the Facebook post was misleading.