Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Religion & belief fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about religion & belief. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,371 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of a Muslim threatening Hindus in Karauli

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned a video presented as showing a Muslim threatening Hindus in Karauli amid communal violence there. The review examined whether the video was connected to those recent events, rather than establishing where the footage was originally recorded or who was shown in it. It reports that Karauli had experienced severe communal attacks on 02 April 2022, shortly before the video was shared in this context. To investigate the footage’s history, the review says it performed a reverse image search using screenshots from the video. It found that the same video had circulated online since at least 2020, predating the Karauli violence. That earlier circulation is the key evidence against presenting it as footage connected to the recent clashes. The review does not establish the video’s original location. It notes earlier posts that described it as being from Hyderabad and Nizamabad, but says it could not conclude whether it was filmed in Telangana. Its supported conclusion is narrower: the footage was old and unrelated to the recent Karauli situation.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Visuals of Muslim men obstructing Hindu rally on Hindu New Year’s day

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video presented as showing Muslim men obstructing a Hindu rally in Karauli, Rajasthan, on Hindu New Year’s Day, 2 April 2022. The review distinguishes that recent event from the footage being circulated: it says the video instead shows an earlier clash in Phagwara, Punjab, and concludes that the visuals are not from Karauli. The mismatch is consequential because the post attaches old footage to a separate, recent episode of communal violence.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video shows people standing on a mosque gate and waving a saffron flag in Karauli (Rajasthan)

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video of people standing on a mosque gate and waving a saffron flag, said to show a mosque in Karauli, Rajasthan, amid recent communal violence there. The review’s finding was that the video was not from Karauli: it identified the mosque as being in Gahmar, in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh. This directly challenges the location attached to the video, rather than disputing that the footage depicts the described activity. To investigate, the review says it ran screenshots from the video through Google Reverse Image Search and found the same video shared by multiple social-media users. It also reports that the Karauli District Collector and Magistrate clarified that the video was not from Karauli, and that other posts attributed it to Gahmar. These are the checks and reports described in the supplied review; the excerpt does not provide links or further detail for each social-media post. For the Gahmar identification, the review cites photos of the mosque posted by activist Sayyad Uzma Parveen and says the structure visible in those photos resembles the one in the viral video. It also reports that Ghazipur Police said Gahmar Police Station had received no complaints from local residents about the incident, but that a case was registered and legal action was underway based on the video posted on Twitter. That police account concerns local complaints and follow-up; the location conclusion is presented separately as resting on the video’s circulation, the Karauli clarification, and the mosque-image comparison.

Fact CrescendoReligion & belief

Claim: misleading shared that an indian hotel staff denied entry for a hijab woman in bahrain

Publisher’s rating: MISSING CONTEXT

The review examined social-media posts claiming that an Indian staff member at a Bahrain restaurant refused entry to a woman wearing a hijab, and that authorities then closed the venue. It describes the incident at Lanterns Bahrain: a woman’s friend said the staff member at the entrance had refused her entry because of her hijab. The review’s key question was whether the accused employee was Indian—not whether the reported refusal had occurred. The review says the woman who first posted about the incident later clarified that the staff member was British, not Indian. It concludes that he worked as a manager at the restaurant, which it describes as Indian-owned. This distinction undercuts the posts’ attribution of the conduct to an Indian employee while retaining the reported incident itself. The excerpt also says Bahrain’s government ordered the restaurant closed following an investigation, and that Lanterns Bahrain later issued an explanation. It does not include the government’s findings or the restaurant’s explanation in full, so those details cannot establish more than the review’s brief account. Overall, the review’s evidence supports a narrower conclusion: the viral framing that the staff member was Indian was inaccurate, while the excerpt does not say that the hijab-related refusal was fabricated.

Rumor ScannerReligion & belief

“জানি না যে এই ঘটনাটি কোন যায়গায় ঘটেছে, আমি পেয়েছি ফেইসবুকে সেখান থেকে নেওয়া। এখান থেকে অনেক কিছু শেখার রয়েছে মুসলমানদের জন্য। আল্লাহু আকবার , হে আল্লাহ তুমি আমাদের ক্ষমা কর ( আমিন ) শরীর শিউরে উঠার মত একটি ভিডিও

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

FACTLYReligion & belief

Recent photo of Buddhist monks protesting on the streets

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a photo presented as showing Buddhist monks recently protesting on the streets because they were being prevented from following their religious practices. FACTLY’s review says it checked that specific image and found it was not recent: it shows monks marching in Yangon, Myanmar, on 24 September 2007, in protest against military rule. The review describes the post’s central problem as using an old image to imply a recent event. FACTLY reports that it used reverse image search to find the same photo in an article published on 26 September 2007, about monks protesting the military regime. That article’s description places the march in Yangon on 24 September 2007. The review adds that the protests began over rising prices and developed into a wider movement against military rule, which it identifies as part of the Saffron Revolution. The review distinguishes the photo’s 2007 provenance from later events: it notes that Buddhist monks also protested against the army coup in Myanmar in early 2021, but says this particular photo is unrelated to those protests. Thus, the existence of later protests does not make the image recent; the image identified by the review documents the 2007 march.

Fact CrescendoReligion & belief

Claim: brahmin association president narayanan not made this statement

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a news card shared on social media that attributed to Brahmin association president Narayanan the statements that Dalits should build small homes and that no one else should build a home taller than a Brahmin’s. Fact Crescendo reported that the card was presented as one published by Thanthi TV, but found its design and Tamil font unlike the outlet’s usual cards. The review says the purported card was dated February 10, 2022, and that a search found no such card on Thanthi TV. The investigation also contacted the broadcaster’s digital division. Its administrator confirmed to Fact Crescendo that the card was fake. The review further says the card used an image from an event where Narayanan had spoken about “Brahmin touch” in Tamil Nadu. Fact Crescendo reports that it watched the full video of that event and found no statement in it that Brahmins’ homes should be larger or that homes belonging to other communities should be smaller. On that basis, the review concluded that the social-media card falsely attributed the housing remarks to Narayanan. It distinguishes the real event image and the separate remarks associated with that event from the housing statement fabricated in the card.

FACTLYReligion & belief

Video of people vandalising a Hindu temple in Bangladesh

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video presented as showing people vandalising a Hindu temple in Bangladesh. FACTLY’s review identifies the footage as showing a different event: vandalism at the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Rahim Yar Khan district, Pakistan. Its conclusion is that the video is not from Bangladesh, even though the review notes that a separate temple-vandalism incident had occurred there. The review describes how it checked the video: reverse image searches of screenshots led to similar visuals in a Times of India article, which identified the location as a Hindu temple in Pakistan. FACTLY also says other news outlets had attributed the same visuals to Pakistan. It places the footage in August 2021, when a mob vandalised the temple, rather than linking it to the Bangladesh incident referenced in the claim. The distinction matters because the review acknowledges that temples were vandalised in Bangladesh, but says the circulating video does not depict that event. It specifically states that the Bangladesh incident followed a Facebook post and that the viral video was unrelated. Thus the video’s subject—a vandalised Hindu temple—does not establish the claimed country or event.