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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: EPS is the second Tamil native Chief minister after Kamaraj

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Fact Crescendo examined a Facebook post that presented Edappadi Palaniswami as the Tamil chief minister to follow Kamaraj, describing this as a victory for Tamils after 54 years. The review says the post paired photographs of Kamaraj and Palaniswami and circulated the claim as fact. The investigation disputes the premise that Kamaraj was the first Tamil chief minister. It says that, among chief ministers from 1950 onward, P. S. Kumaraswami Raja and Rajaji had held office before Kamaraj. It identifies Kumaraswami Raja as having roots in Andhra and Rajaji as having roots in Tamil Nadu, while noting that some people do not accept Rajaji as Tamil because he was Brahmin. The review also lists chief ministers who served after Kamaraj and before Palaniswami: Bhaktavatsalam, Annadurai, interim chief minister V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, and O. Panneerselvam. It says they belonged to Tamil castes, and describes several of them as having roots in Tamil Nadu. On that evidence, the post’s assertion that Palaniswami was the first Tamil chief minister after Kamaraj is false. The review explicitly limits its conclusion: it sets aside disputed claims about the caste or mother tongue of Karunanidhi, MGR, and Jayalalithaa, and says it also excludes Annadurai from part of its count because of criticism concerning his parents’ inter-caste marriage. Its finding therefore rests on the other named examples, rather than resolving every possible definition of “Tamil.”

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: CPI leader Tha Pandian supports Chinese invasion of India

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a news card attributed to CPI leader Tha Pandian, alleging that he would support China if it occupied Indian territory or fought India. The review says the card was circulated as a New Generation television news card dated February 1, 2018, and that a Facebook page posted it on July 15, 2019. The card’s purported statement also referred to both communist movements supporting China and said the Indian left would not support India. The review compared the circulating image with New Generation’s news-card designs from February 2018. It reports differences in Pandian’s picture, font, design and logo placement, and says the circulating version lacked the channel’s watermark. The reviewer also contacted the channel’s digital department and sent it the image. According to the review, staff examined it and said it was not a card they had published, but was fabricated. The reviewer separately searched for evidence that Pandian had made pro-China remarks and for interviews he gave in the first week of February 2018. The review says it found no such China-related statement in those interviews and no report of him expressing support for China. On the evidence it describes—the image comparison, the channel’s response and the search for supporting statements—the review concluded that the attributed card was false.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: This is the picture of Gnanasekaran who joined DMK today

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a Facebook post that presented a photograph as showing former MLA Gnanasekaran joining the DMK. The post also said he had left AMMK and joined the party in the presence of M. K. Stalin at the party headquarters. The review distinguished the event claim from the image identification: it says Gnanasekaran’s move from AMMK to the DMK was true, but the photograph attached to the post was not of him. [S1: “அமமுகவில் இருந்து விலகிய ஞானசேகரன் அவரது ஆதரவாளர்களுடன், அறிவாலயத்தில் ஸ்டாலின் முன்னிலையில் திமுகவில் இணைந்தார்,”] According to the review, the image showed Vetrivel, an AMMK functionary. It describes the mismatch directly: the post had used Vetrivel’s photograph while identifying him as Gnanasekaran. [S1: “ஞானசேகரன் என்று கூறி வெற்றிவேல் புகைப்படத்தை இணைத்துள்ளார்.”] The review further says that the two men are different people and that it included their actual photographs for comparison. [S1: “வெற்றிவேல் என்பவர் வேறு, ஞானசேகரன் என்பவர் வேறு என தெளிவாகிறது.”] Thus, the review’s conclusion concerns the image, not whether Gnanasekaran joined the DMK: the event was reported as true, but the photograph in the Facebook post was wrong. [S1: “மேற்கண்ட ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில் இடம்பெற்றுள்ளது, ஞானசேகரனின் உண்மை புகைப்படம் இல்லை”]

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Modi bowed in front of Adani wife

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines a social-media post that paired a news card with a photograph of Modi bowing to a woman beside a helicopter. The post’s caption said he was bowing before Adani’s wife, implying that the woman in the image was the industrialist’s spouse. The review says the image had circulated for years and that the Facebook page We Troll Allகலாய்.com posted it on July 12, 2019. It specifically set out to establish whether the woman pictured was Adani’s wife or someone else. (“இரண்டாவது படத்தில், பெண்மணி ஒருவரை பிரதமர் மோடி வணங்கும் படத்தை வைத்துள்ளனர்.”; “இதன் மூலம், பிரபல தொழிலதிபர் அதானியின் மனைவிக்கு பிரதமர் மோடி தலை மற்றும் மேல் உடலைத் தாழ்த்தி வணக்கம் செலுத்துகிறார் என்று குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளனர்.”) To check the woman’s identity, the review compared the image with photographs of Adani and his wife, then used reverse-image search to look for the photograph’s earlier appearances. It reports finding that Modi visited Tumakuru, Karnataka, in September 2014, when the city’s mayor, Geetha, welcomed him. The review also cites contemporaneous posts identifying the woman as Tumakuru mayor Geetha Rudresh and describes a Kannada news image from the food-park inauguration coverage. Its caption was translated as saying Modi greeted the Tumakuru mayor. (“2014ம் ஆண்டு செப்டம்பர் மாதம் பிரதமர் மோடி கர்நாடக மாநிலம் தும்கூருக்கு வருகை புரிந்துள்ளார். அப்போது தும்கூர் நகர மேயராக இருந்த கீதா என்பவர் மோடியை வரவேற்றுள்ளார்.”; “கன்னடத்தில் வெளியான செய்தியில், மேற்கண்ட ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில் இருந்த படமும் இருந்தது.”) The review concludes that the woman in the photograph was Geetha Rudresh, not Adani’s wife. That identification changes the context of the image: it depicts Modi greeting a city mayor during his Tumakuru visit, rather than bowing to Adani’s wife. The review therefore calls the Facebook post false. (“இந்த ஆதாரங்கள் அடிப்படையில், மேற்கண்ட ஃபேஸ்புக் புகைப்படத்தில் பிரதமர் மோடி வணங்கும் பெண்மணி, பிரபல தொழில் அதிபர் அதானியின் மனைவி இல்லை, அவர் தும்கூர் மாநகராட்சி மேயராக இருந்த கீதா ருத்ரேஷ் என்பது உறுதி செய்யப்படுகிறது.”; “எனவே, நமது வாசகர்கள், இத்தகைய தவறான செய்தி, புகைப்படங்கள், வீடியோ போன்றவற்றை உறுதி செய்யாமல் மற்றவர்களுக்குப் பகிர வேண்டாம் என கேட்டுக் கொள்கிறோம்.”)

NewtralPolitics & government

Entre Ciudadanos y PP presentamos más de 100 enmiendas a la ordenanza de movilidad que regulaba Madrid Central y no aceptaron ni una

Publisher’s rating: Falso

José Luis Martínez-Almeida made the claim during a 9 July 2019 interview on Más de Uno, saying that Ciudadanos and the PP had presented more than 100 amendments to the mobility ordinance regulating Madrid Central and that none had been accepted. The investigation checked the ordinance and municipal records of amendments and votes, rather than relying only on the interview statement. The ordinance was approved by Madrid’s plenary on 5 October 2018. To establish how many amendments each party submitted, the investigation consulted the 20 September 2018 report of the Environment and Mobility Commission. That report recorded 170 amendments in total: 28 from Ciudadanos and 26 from the PP, or 54 combined—not more than 100. The same commission report’s voting record contradicts the claim that none were accepted. Four Ciudadanos amendments and four PP amendments were approved and incorporated into the ordinance. The investigation adds that amendments not approved in committee were put to a further vote in plenary on 5 October, where they were rejected by Ahora Madrid and PSOE. Thus, the claim was wrong both about the number submitted and about whether any succeeded.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

TN Govt planning to form Kumbakonam into a new District

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Fact Crescendo investigated a Facebook post claiming that Kumbakonam was to become a separate district as part of a reorganization of the Delta districts. The post, published on July 9, 2019, also listed areas said to belong to proposed districts and suggested that Kollidam, Madukkur and Muthupettai would become new taluks. The review noted that the post’s presentation could make it look as though the changes had already been decided: “இதனை பார்த்தால் கும்பகோணம் புதிய மாவட்டமாக அறிவிக்கப்பட்டுவிட்டதைப் போல உள்ளது.” The review checked Tamil Nadu’s district and taluk listings and found that Kumbakonam was not a district. It described Kumbakonam as a taluk and a special-grade municipality within Thanjavur district, while Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur were already districts. The article states: “கும்பகோணம் தற்போது தஞ்சாவூர் மாவட்டத்தின்கீழ் ஒரு சிறப்பு நிலை முனிசிபாலிட்டி நகராக, தாலுகா பகுதியாக மட்டுமே உள்ளது.” To check whether the government had announced a new district, the review searched for information and cited a report by The Hindu Tamil. According to Fact Crescendo’s account, that report said a separate revenue district headquartered in Kumbakonam had been sought for more than 20 years, but that social-media rumours said an announcement was imminent. The Kumbakonam MLA, Sakkottai K. Anbazhagan, denied that such an announcement was expected at that time. Fact Crescendo concluded that the Facebook claim was false: “சம்பந்தப்பட்ட கும்பகோண சட்டமன்ற உறுப்பினரும் இதனை மறுத்துவிட்டார்.”