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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: Premalatha speech on AIADMK Govt

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerns a video circulated in April 2019 as showing DMDK leader Premalatha Vijayakanth asking whether voters would support “AIADMK clowns.” The review says the allegation was especially misleading because DMDK had recently joined the AIADMK–BJP alliance for the parliamentary election. It describes the video as showing Premalatha criticizing AIADMK ministers and government actions, including the use of thermocol to cover dam water and buckets to remove spilled crude oil. The review traced the footage to a May Day public meeting in Tiruppur’s Dharapuram. It reports that the video itself carried the words “May Day public meeting, Tiruppur: Dharapuram,” and says the same footage had been published by Dinamalar. The investigators then searched Google using the title “Tamil Nadu becoming a desert: Premalatha” and found what they identified as the original video, which they say was two years old and recorded on May 1, 2017. That date changes the political context: according to the review, DMDK was not then in an alliance, and it joined the AIADMK–BJP alliance only shortly before the 2019 election. The review therefore concludes that genuine old footage was recirculated with a misleading current-election framing. Its finding is not that the video was fabricated, but that the post used the earlier speech to suggest Premalatha was making the remarks in the later political context.

Le MondePolitics & government

Emmanuel Macron et Edouard Philippe étaient-ils « écroulés de rire devant Notre-Dame » ?

Publisher’s rating: Faux

The claim concerns a widely shared photo that appeared to show Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe laughing while Notre-Dame was burning. The review places the scene on the evening of April 15, 2019, when the two men went to the cathedral as the fire was still burning. The image prompted accusations that their apparent amusement showed indifference to the disaster. To assess what the photo showed, the review examined the video sequence from which it appeared to have been taken. It identified the relevant footage at 3 minutes and 24 seconds in a YouTube video posted by CLPRESS, a French press agency that supplies images to media and news agencies. The review says the video shows the men with “a plutôt sérieux” expression overall: Philippe’s hand-to-mouth gesture can look like a smirk in the still image, while Macron appears to purse his lips and continue walking. The review therefore finds the interpretation that both men were “écroulés de rire” exaggerated. It does not say that the still image was fabricated: it says the image was from that evening, but that freezing a moment made their expressions appear more clearly amused than the video sequence supports. The surrounding context was that Macron had gone to the scene with government members to acknowledge the responders and join the crisis cell at the Paris police prefecture; he later addressed the public and promised to rebuild the cathedral.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Narendra Modi is declared as the Best Prime Minister in the World by UNESCO

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a Facebook post saying UNESCO declared Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the world’s best prime minister. FACTLY’s review reports that it checked UNESCO’s official website and found a document about rumors and fake news circulated in UNESCO’s name. According to the review, that document identifies the specific story about Modi receiving this title as a rumor—not as a UNESCO declaration. FACTLY therefore concludes that UNESCO did not declare Modi the world’s best prime minister. The evidence described in the excerpt is the treatment of this exact claim in the UNESCO document; the review does not provide the document’s title, a direct quotation from it, or further details about how the document was located. The conclusion is thus reported as the fact-checker’s account of what the official website document says, rather than as a reproduced UNESCO statement.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Modi Government's strike rate of fulfilling promises is 89% : BBC

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: True

The review checks a report attributed to BBC Hindi that rationalperusal.com described as an 89% “strike rate” for the Modi government’s work on promises. It says it went to the BBC website to check whether BBC had published such a report, and found one. The review also directs readers to the original BBC Hindi article. The supplied excerpt does not reproduce that BBC article, so its contents are reported here only as the Fact Crescendo review describes them. (S1)

NewtralPolitics & government

La fotografía de Abascal con un megáfono al revés

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review examines a viral photograph appearing to show Vox leader Santiago Abascal holding a megaphone upside down. It reports that the image circulated with mocking captions, including claims that Vox supporters could not handle a megaphone. The review concludes that the viral photograph was a montage, not an authentic image of Abascal using the device incorrectly. To check it, the review compares the viral image with the original photograph, credited to J. L. Cereijido of the EFE news agency. That original was taken at a Vox campaign event in Oviedo on 12 April 2019. The review says it shows Abascal holding the megaphone correctly. It also identifies visual signs of alteration in the viral version: lettering appears reversed, and the cable that should connect to the microphone instead appears to connect to the megaphone’s bell.

FACTLYPolitics & government

Modi having lunch with Imran Khan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a Facebook image said to show Narendra Modi, wearing a Muslim skull cap, sitting beside Pakistan’s then-prime minister Imran Khan at a dining table. FACTLY’s review identifies the image as an edit, not a photograph of the two men having lunch together. It says that in the original image of Khan, his wife Reham Khan was beside him, and that Modi’s image had been substituted for hers. The review also says a skull cap was added over Modi’s picture. [S1: “In the original picture, Imran Khan’s wife can be seen sitting beside him. Also, a Muslim skull cap has been placed over the picture of Modi.”] The review describes two reverse-image searches. Cropping the shared image to retain Khan and searching with Yandex led to the original picture showing Reham Khan beside him. Cropping the Modi portion and searching separately led to the source photograph of Modi, which the review says was taken in 2015 while he was having lunch in the Parliament canteen. In that original, Modi was not wearing a skull cap. [S1: “When the image posted on Facebook is cropped (keeping only Imran Khan) and ran through Yandex Reverse Image search, the original picture can be found in the search results.”] [S1: “The original picture of Modi was taken in 2015 while having lunch in the Parliament canteen. In the picture, it can be found that Modi was not wearing any skull cap.”] These findings address the specific image’s components: the Khan photograph places Reham Khan beside him, while the Modi photograph comes from a separate lunch scene. The review concludes that the Facebook image was photoshopped and that Modi was not having lunch with Imran Khan. [S1: “Finally, Modi was not having lunch with Imran Khan. It’s a photoshopped image.”]

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: Rahul speech on CMWA

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned a purported statement by Rahul Gandhi at a Karnataka campaign meeting: that a Congress government would build a dam at Mekedatu and dissolve the Cauvery water-management authority. The review says the viral post framed this as a pledge made at a Bengaluru public meeting, amid anger over the Cauvery dispute. It concludes that the allegation was fabricated, tracing it to a separate political accusation rather than to Gandhi’s speech. (S1: “இந்த நிலையில், பெங்களூருவில் நடந்த பொதுக் கூட்டத்தில் பேசிய காங்கிரஸ் கட்சித் தலைவர் ராகுல் காந்தி, காங்கிரஸ் ஆட்சிக்கு வந்தால் மேகதாதுவில் அணை கட்டப்படும், காவிரி நீர் மேலாண்மை ஆணையம் கலைக்கப்படும் என்று பேசியதாக இந்த ஃபேஸ்புக் பதிவில் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.”) To check the setting, the review consulted Congress’s official itinerary. It reports that Gandhi visited Karnataka on April 13 but did not go to Bengaluru; his most recent meeting in the Bengaluru area had been on March 31 at Nelamangala, in Bengaluru Rural district. The review then examined that meeting’s speech rather than treating the viral post’s location description as proof of what he said. (S1: “அதில், ஏப்ரல் 13ம் தேதி கர்நாடகத்துக்கு சென்றுள்ளார். ஆனால், பெங்களூருவுக்கு செல்லவில்லை. கடைசியாக, கடந்த மார்ச் மாதம் 31ம் தேதி பெங்களூரு ரூரல் மாவட்டத்தில் நிலமங்களா என்ற இடத்தில் நடந்த பொதுக் கூட்டத்தில் பேசியிருக்கிறார் என்று தெரிந்தது.”) The review reports that the speech focused on national politics and Narendra Modi, and that Gandhi did not mention Mekedatu or the Cauvery authority. It says the video begins at the 55th minute, with Gandhi speaking Hindi translated into Kannada; Kannada speakers asked to review it reported no such remarks. The review also cites contemporary news coverage that described his remarks about Modi, but not a Cauvery pledge. (S1: “அந்த கூட்டத்தில், மேகதாது மற்றும் காவிரி நதிநீர் மேலாண்மை ஆணையம் பற்றி ஏதேனும் பேசினாரா என்று தேடினோம். ஆனால், தேசிய அரசியல், மோடி பற்றியே ராகுல் காந்தி பேசியது தெரிந்தது.”; “55வது நிமிடத்தில் இருந்து அவர் பேசுவது தொடங்குகிறது. ராகுல் காந்தி இந்தியில் பேசியது கன்னடத்தில் மொழிபெயர்க்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. கன்னடம் தெரிந்தவர்களிடம் இந்த வீடியோவை பார்க்கச் சொன்னோம்.”)