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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

NewtralPolitics & government

La foto de Rufián con una camiseta de Otegi

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a circulated photograph said to show Gabriel Rufián wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “yo también soy etarra” alongside an image of Arnaldo Otegi. Newtral reports that the image had been shared nearly 3,000 times on Facebook and identifies it as a montage. To check the image, the review describes using a reverse-image search. It says this located the underlying photograph, taken by Efe, as an image from 18 September 2018, when former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar appeared before a Congress commission investigating alleged illegal financing of the Partido Popular. In that photograph, Rufián, ERC’s spokesperson in Congress, was wearing a shirt reading “José Couso, asesinado,” not the shirt shown in the circulating version. The review adds that Rufián’s original shirt referred to camera operator José Couso, who was killed during the Iraq War. It notes that Couso’s brother, David, thanked Rufián on Twitter that day, and points to other media coverage of the shirt. Together, the identified source photograph and the difference between its documented shirt and the altered shirt address the specific image at issue.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: False campaign against PM Modi

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The review examined a Facebook post accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having Aadhaar and voter-identity registration carried out at home, while presenting a video and other images as evidence. It says the post had been shared more than 3,500 times and combined the video with a photograph of BJP figures wearing “Chowkidar” shirts and a cartoon involving Modi and Subramanian Swamy. The post’s allegation and the review’s explanation concern the same video and post. The investigation identifies the video as footage made when Madame Tussauds staff visited Modi’s residence in Delhi in 2016 to record details for creating his wax figure. The review says the footage and related reports and photographs were already circulating in 2016, and that the viral post edited the video to make it appear to show identity-document registration. It also reports using a reverse-image search to investigate the BJP-shirt photograph; although it considered the photograph genuine, it could not establish where or when it was taken, and found no connection between it and the criticism of Modi. The review traces the cartoon to a BBC Tamil post on Twitter, which it says was shared on March 25, 2019; it says the cartoon was not found on BBC Tamil’s website. Its conclusion is that the materials were assembled without a demonstrated connection and that the video was misrepresented. The review does not establish the origin or date of the BJP-shirt photograph, so those details remain unresolved in the supplied account.

FACTLYPolitics & government

While Manmohan Singh spent Rs 12 crore per trip i.e. Rs 493 crore on 38 trips, Modi spent only Rs 10 crore per trip i.e. Rs 443 crore on 44 trips.

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim compares reported chartered-flight costs for Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi, presenting Singh’s 38 trips as costing Rs 493 crore and Modi’s 44 trips as costing Rs 443 crore. FACTLY examined the comparison circulated on Facebook and found that it used only one category of foreign-travel expenditure. Its review says the figures “do not include the bills to be received and IAF BBJ Flights used by the Modi government.” The review describes three cost categories: chartered flights, aircraft maintenance, and hotlines. It says the post compared only chartered flights, and that bills for six of Modi’s foreign visits had not yet been received. It also reports that Modi made six trips on IAF BBJ aircraft, for which, according to the review, the government did not have to pay. The comparison therefore left out both outstanding costs and trips made on those aircraft. Including the other identified cost categories changes the comparison substantially: FACTLY reports total foreign-travel costs of around Rs 1,350 crore for Manmohan Singh and around Rs 2,000 crore for Modi, with Modi’s total excluding bills still due. The review cautions that the comparison cannot be made from the incomplete figures alone and notes that inflation, flight type, and other factors also matter. Its conclusion rests on the gap between the post’s chartered-flight-only figures and the broader set of costs it says must be considered.

Fact CrescendoPolitics & government

Claim: False photo about A. Raja

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: Mixture

Fact Crescendo examined an Asianet Tamil headline and accompanying image that associated A. Raja with a candidate said to have declared assets of ₹1.76 lakh crore. The review explains why the pairing could mislead readers: Raja’s photograph and the headline suggested the story concerned him, although the article itself was about a different person standing in a by-election. The review identifies that candidate as Mohanraj, contesting the Perambur Assembly by-election, and says the story concerned claims in his election affidavit—not Raja’s assets. The review sets out the background to the misleading association. Raja, a DMK candidate for the Nilgiris parliamentary constituency, had been a central figure in public debate over the 2G spectrum case. The article’s use of his image alongside a headline about an exceptionally large asset declaration could therefore lead readers to connect the figure to him. But, according to the review, the article did not discuss Raja at all: its subject was Mohanraj and his declared cash and claimed loan request. The review also reports that Mohanraj said he did not actually possess such a sum and had made the declaration to demonstrate concerns about the reliability of election affidavits. Fact Crescendo’s conclusion distinguishes the story’s reporting from its presentation: it says the story and headline were true, but the photograph was unrelated and gave a false impression. The review says the image of Raja appeared in the headline despite the article containing no mention of him, and reports that Asianet Tamil did not remove or correct the image after criticism. Thus, the review supports the claim about a false photo association, not an assertion that Raja declared the amount as personal wealth.