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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: Indiatoday Cvoter survey on Modi

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The review investigates a viral Tamil-language news card presented as an India Today–CVoter poll asking whether people would vote for Modi to be prime minister again. The card claimed 21% said yes and 79% said no. The review says the image was shared as if it reported a real India Today poll, but notes that the card had a spelling error and that India Today did not generally publish its polls in Tamil. To check the image, the investigators used reverse image search. They report finding an authentic India Today card whose other elements matched the viral image, while the poll section differed, indicating that the viral card had been altered. They then searched Yandex for the original image and traced it to an India Today article dated August 16, 2013. That older card concerned a poll about who was best suited to be prime minister; it was not a recent poll asking whether people would vote for Modi again. The review also says it found a March 26 poll article, which described Modi as remaining influential in most states, and concludes that India Today had not recently published a poll in which a majority said they would not vote for him. Its conclusion is that the viral card was a manipulated image misleadingly attributed to India Today—not a genuine report of the claimed result.

FACTLYPolitics & government

In an American survey, Modi is the only Indian to be included in the ‘Top 50 Honest Leaders Ranking’ and also, he topped that list.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a post saying an American survey placed Narendra Modi among the top 50 honest leaders, made him the only Indian on the list, and ranked him first. FACTLY reports that its search of rankings published around the world did not find the survey described in the post. It says that although organizations had ranked Modi in other surveys, those rankings were not the claimed honest-leaders list. (S1: “When searched for Modi ranking in the various rankings published across the world, it was found that many organizations have ranked him in their surveys but the survey quoted in the post has not been found.”) The review also looked for an official trace of the alleged survey. It says it found no information about it from India’s Press Information Bureau, which it describes as the government’s official public-relations wing and notes generally reports when the prime minister receives awards abroad. The review further says a Google search for the phrase ‘Honest Indian Political Leader’ surfaced similar past posts about Manmohan Singh that other fact-checkers had debunked. (S1: “But there is no such information on the survey quoted in the post. Also, when searched for the ‘Honest Indian Political Leader’ on Google, it can be found that similar posts are made on Manmohan Singh in the past, which are debunked by the other fact checkers.”) FACTLY’s stated conclusion is that no such honest-leaders survey placing Modi as the most honest political leader exists. Its account describes searches of rankings, government information and related phrase results; it does not identify a survey publisher, questionnaire, ranking table or underlying data supporting the post. (S1: “Finally, there is no such survey on Honest Leaders which placed Modi as the most honest political leader.”)

FACTLYPolitics & government

For the last 60 years, under the Congress government, soldiers have travelled in general bogies by lying down at the empty space near toilets. But when these images were sent to Modi and Suresh Prabhu, they arranged flights for the soldiers in the army.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim links two things: a longstanding allegation that soldiers travelled in general train coaches near toilets under Congress governments, and an assertion that Modi and Suresh Prabhu arranged flights after seeing images of them. FACTLY’s review focuses on the images being circulated with that assertion. It reports that the soldiers shown were ITBP personnel travelling to Kerala for election duty, rather than troops receiving free air travel arranged by the central government. The review says the images were taken in 2016, when the Election Commission of India sent the personnel on that duty. To check the images, the review says it examined the soldiers’ uniform badges, which it identified as reading “ITBP,” and noted that they were travelling on an Air India plane. It also describes searching for “ITBP Air India” and finding reports that ITBP soldiers were being moved to Kerala for election duty. As corroboration, it points to similar images of a different batch of ITBP personnel being moved to Kerala for the same purpose, tweeted by ITBP’s official account. The review distinguishes this election-duty flight from a separate policy announcement: it says the BJP announced free air travel for CAPF personnel after the Pulwama attack, but only on specific routes. That qualification does not establish that the personnel in the circulated images were flown under that policy; the review identifies their journey as election duty. Its findings address the images and the claim attached to them, rather than establishing the broader assertion about soldiers’ travel over the preceding 60 years.

Pagella PoliticaPolitics & government

L'unico segretario di un partito donna che esiste in Italia si chiama Giorgia Meloni

Publisher’s rating: Pinocchio andante

The review examines Giorgia Meloni’s statement on 26 March that she was the only woman in Italy to serve as a party secretary. It finds the claim imprecise: other women held equivalent party leadership roles, although Meloni was the only woman who was both a party leader and a member of Parliament. The review also notes a formal-title distinction: Meloni was Fratelli d’Italia’s president, not its secretary, and the party did not appear to have a secretary post. The investigation therefore compares equivalent leadership responsibilities, rather than relying only on job titles. [S1: “Il 26 marzo Giorgia Meloni, ospite alla trasmissione televisiva Otto e mezzo (La7), ha dichiarato di essere l’unica donna in Italia a ricoprire il ruolo di segretario all’interno di un partito.”; “Ad essere precisi, Giorgia Meloni è la presidente di Fratelli d’Italia e non la segretaria.”; “Al di là della carica formale, Giorgia Meloni è comunque la personalità di maggior rilievo di Fratelli d’Italia. Faremo dunque il confronto con gli incarichi equivalenti degli altri partiti o movimenti.”] The review identifies Beatrice Brignone, secretary of Possibile since 12 May 2018, as another woman in a comparable role. It reports that she won 73.9 per cent of the votes in the party’s leadership election held from 9 to 11 May. Possibile had contested the 2018 general election in the Liberi e Uguali list, which won 14 seats, and its sole current member of Parliament was Luca Pastorino. Thus, Brignone led a party represented in Parliament but was not herself a parliamentarian. [S1: “Beatrice Brignone, infatti, è dal 12 maggio 2018 la segretaria di Possibile.”; “ottenendo la maggioranza dei voti (73,9 per cento) alle elezioni che si sono tenute tra il 9 e l’11 maggio dello scorso anno.”; “L’unico esponente di Possibile attualmente in Parlamento è Luca Pastorino.”] It also names Silvja Manzi, elected secretary of Radicali Italiani in November 2018. The article’s conclusion distinguishes the broader claim from the narrower parliamentary one: Manzi and Brignone were additional women party secretaries, but the review found no other woman who was both a parliamentarian and a party secretary or president. [S1: “a novembre 2018, Silvja Manzi è stata eletta segretaria di Radicali Italiani.”; “Non ci sono, però, altre donne ad essere attualmente sia parlamentari sia segretarie (o presidenti) di partito.”]