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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: Amit shah accused Congress for hurdling Ram Temple

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: Mixture

The review examined a widely shared meme that quoted Amit Shah as saying Congress was obstructing construction of the Ram temple. It focused not only on whether Shah made the statement, but also on the impression created by pairing it with a photograph of Shah, Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath. The post said the three were together when Shah spoke; the review found that this presentation combined material from separate events. Its conclusion was that the statement attributed to Shah was genuine, while the rest of the meme’s presentation was misleading. To check the quotation, the review says it searched Google for reports of Shah speaking about the Ram temple and then examined a report from The Economic Times. It found reporting that Shah had spoken about the temple on January 11, 2019, in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. The review says the reported words matched the meme’s allegation that Congress was preventing the temple from being built soon. Thus, the review did not reject the quotation itself: it distinguished the truth of the attributed remark from the claim about its setting. The review separately investigated the photograph, looking for information about where and when it was taken. It identified it as an image from Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh chief-minister swearing-in ceremony on March 19, 2017—not from Shah’s remarks at Ramlila Maidan. Because the image came from a different event, it did not establish that Modi and Adityanath were present when Shah made the statement. The review therefore characterized the meme as partly true and partly false: Shah’s reported statement was supported, but the image and implied circumstances were not.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Seeman phone conversation

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: True

Fact Crescendo investigated an audio clip circulated on social media as a phone argument between Naam Tamilar Katchi leader Seeman and a party worker. The review says it had circulated from around March 17–19 and that the conversation concerned who would receive party tickets for the 2019 parliamentary election. In the recording, a voice resembling Seeman’s criticizes the worker and tells him to stick to putting up posters. To assess who was speaking, the review says it compared the voice with Seeman’s public speeches and directed readers to a recent video of him. It also searched for a response from Seeman and found a video published by Vikatan. The review reports that Seeman addressed the audio on March 19 and acknowledged it while offering an explanation. That reported acknowledgment, rather than voice resemblance alone, is the central evidence the article gives for authenticating the recording. The article also mentions an earlier, separate 2015 phone exchange involving Seeman, but does not present that incident as proof of this recording. Its conclusion rests on the evidence it describes for the specific clip: the recording’s content, comparison with Seeman’s voice, and his reported response to this audio. The excerpt does not provide a transcript of his explanation or technical authentication details, so those should not be inferred.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Rahul Gandhi ate snacks of a child at a Martyr’s home.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a picture of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and a child, which was shared with the allegation that Rahul ate the child’s snacks while visiting a martyr’s home. FACTLY’s investigation says the scene was instead a roadside stop by Rahul and Priyanka on their way to meet a CRPF trooper’s family. It identifies the location as the Shiv Shakti dhaba in Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, where the pair stopped for tea and interacted with other customers. To trace the image, the review reports using Google Reverse Image Search with filters. That search led to a Quint video titled “Priyanka Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi went to a dhaba in Kairana on their way to meet the family of a CRPF trooper.” According to FACTLY’s account of the video, Rahul and Priyanka are seen at the dhaba, with snacks on their table, and Rahul eating them. This places the snacks in the roadside-dhaba setting, rather than at the martyr’s home. The review’s conclusion is therefore about the location and context attached to the image: it describes the meal as a stop on the journey to meet the trooper’s family, not as food taken from a child in that family’s home. The supplied excerpt reports the reverse-image-search result and what the review says is visible in the video; it does not include the video itself or further details about the child pictured.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Sonia Gandhi sat in the lap of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns an image said to show Sonia Gandhi sitting on the lap of Maldives’ former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. FACTLY reports that the image was edited: in the original photograph, Gandhi and Gayoom were sitting separately during a meeting in New Delhi on 29 March 2005. The review identifies the encounter as part of Gayoom’s visit to India.

NewtralPolitics & government

Pablo Iglesias llama a lanzar cócteles molotov a la Guardia Civil

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral examined a circulating audio clip in which Pablo Iglesias appeared to call for action against the Guardia Civil and mention making explosive cocktails. The review traces the audio to a talk Iglesias gave in August 2013 in Segovia, at a summer university event organized by Izquierda Anticapitalista. Its account says the clip is an extract from a conference, not a standalone statement of his position: Iglesias was parodying a kind of left-wing rhetoric he did not identify with.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Rahul owns building in Italy

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The review examines a viral video that claimed Rahul Gandhi had bought apartment buildings in Italy with money stolen from India. In the clip, a man points to buildings and alleges they belong to Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi; he also says he is in Italy. The review notes that the video was widely shared and that it had circulated in several languages before appearing in Tamil. It identifies the clip, rather than a separate claim about property ownership, as the subject of its investigation. [S1: “இந்தியாவில் கொள்ளையடித்து ராஜீவ்காந்தி மகன் பப்பு ராகுல் வின்சி இத்தாலியில் வாங்கி வைத்திருக்கும் அடுக்கு மாடி கட்டிடங்களை பாருங்கள்” and “ஏற்கனவே இந்தி, ஆங்கிலம், குஜராத்தி மொழிகளில் பரவிவரும் இந்த வீடியோ, தற்போது தமிழிலும் பரவ தொடங்கியுள்ளது”] To check the footage, the review says it used reverse-image searching. It reports identifying the location as Piazza San Carlo in Turin, and the building indicated in the video as Palazzo Castello, which it describes as containing a theatre and museum. It also identifies nearby Palazzo Madama as a former Italian Senate site and says the area belongs to the Italian state and is a major tourist attraction. These location identifications are the review’s central evidence against the video’s claim that the buildings shown were Rahul Gandhi’s. [S1: “கூகுளில் ரிவர்ஸ் இமேஜ் தேடல் செய்தோம். அப்போது, அது இத்தாலியின் துரின் பகுதியில் உள்ள செயின்ட் கர்லோ சதுக்கம் என தெரியவந்தது.” and “இத்தாலி அரசுக்குச் சொந்தமான இப்பகுதி, அந்நாட்டில் உள்ள முக்கிய சுற்றுலா தலங்களில் ஒன்று”] The review further says it found reporting describing the video as false and identifying Mera Bharat Mahan as the person who first posted it on Facebook. It notes that AltNews had investigated the clip before other outlets, then concludes that the video was misleading. The excerpt does not describe a search of property records or establish who owns every building visible; its stated basis is the identification of the locations shown and its account of earlier reporting on the video’s provenance. [S1: “இந்த வீடியோவை Mera Bharat Mahan என்ற நபர் முதன்முதலில், ஃபேஸ்புக்கில் வெளியிட்டிருக்கிறார்.” and “இதுபற்றி முதன்முதலில் AltNews ஆய்வு செய்து, அதன் முடிவுகளை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது.” and “நாம் ஆய்வுக்கு எடுத்துக் கொண்ட வீடியோ தவறான ஒன்று என நிரூபிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.”]