Was a lone train car labeled "Molten Sulfur" abandoned with molten sulfur inside in Marietta, Oklahoma? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the railway on which the car was sitting said that the train car was empty and was being repaired to stop it from potentially derailing. At the time of writing, the train car was not sitting on…
Did Joe Rogan discuss a "scathing documentary" about an impending attack on the United States during an episode of Rogan's podcast partly shown in a video posted on Facebook? No, that's not true: A transcript of the full episode featuring Russell Brand never mentions Teddy Daniels or his documentary about an attack that supposedly would wipe out 90 percent of…
Did U.S. Marines "kill" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "Managing Officer" Aaron Aranas by fatally shooting him on November 24, 2023? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer confirmed to Lead Stories that this claim is false. The claim appeared in an article on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content often mistaken for real news. The claim…
Does a video of a man, described in a news report as a militant, show a staged arrest on the Gaza border because he is first seen blindfolded and in his underwear, then apparently putting his pants back on with no blindfold? No, that's not true: While social media accounts did not alter the Fox News footage compared to the…
Did the Rothschild family buy or do they own Rothschild Island in Antarctica? No, that's not true: The island, which is part of Antarctica and not owned by anyone, was sighted from a distance by the French Antarctic Expedition between 1908 and 1910. The expedition leader, Jean-Baptiste Charcot, named it after Baron Edouard de Rothschild, the then-head of the French…
Does the recent iOS 17 update include a new feature that can put iPhone users at risk of having their contact information stolen by a stranger passing by? No, that's not true: The NameDrop feature has several levels of security and contact information is not leaking to anyone in the area. The users' iPhones must be within a few centimeters,…
Does a video posted on X show Israeli protesters surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem to demand his resignation? No, that's not true: The video shows a rally taking place in Tel Aviv to call for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. At least two English-language signs carried by protesters refer to Israelis held hostage…
Has a journalist who debunked the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory also been charged with child pornography? No, that's not true: the allegation was based on a faked screenshot of a non-existent New York Post headline. While former ABC investigative reporter James Gordon Meek was sentenced in September 2023 for possessing child sexual abuse material, he is not one of the journalists…
Does onion peel water cure or alleviate urinary tract infections, prostatitis or other infections? No, that's not true: A medical expert told Lead Stories there is no scientific evidence that a tea made from the outer skins of onions does any good for recurrent urinary tract infections, prostatitis or any sort of inflammatory condition. They warned that using onion peel…
Did Russian President Vladimir Putin order "the destruction of a Kyiv pharmaceutical laboratory suspected of manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines" owned by Farmak, one of Ukraine's major companies selling medical products, in November 2023? No, that's not true: The company's warehouse near Kyiv had been burned down roughly a year and a half earlier. It happened during the early stages of the…
Was Donald Trump's real voice used in a video endorsing a documentary warning that 300 million Americans will die in an attack on the power grid in a matter of weeks? No, that's not true: There is no proof that Trump ever made the statements in the video. A search of Trump's campaign website and of Google's index of thousands…
Do cantaloupe and papaya juices help prevent or reverse age-related macular degeneration, or AMD? No, that's not true: According to an ophthalmologist at the National Eye Institute, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that cantaloupe and papaya juice specifically help prevent or reverse AMD. The complex eye condition and its progression are influenced by various factors, including…
Does a video shared on X document lab-grown meat moving autonomously? No, that's not true: The video in question was made by a content creator who produces videos containing sculptures of food items that move as if they are alive. Lab-grown meat is not created in a way that would allow it to move autonomously. Sarcastic captions on the video…
Was Oprah Winfrey's private jet at Jeffrey Epstein's island 11 different times? No, that's not true: There is no proof that Winfrey's private plane was ever on convicted pedophile Epstein's island Little St. James in the Caribbean. The island is only 75 acres and does not have a runway for Winfrey's private plane, or any planes, to land there. Winfrey…
Was a 3-year-old Palestinian child detained in 2023 in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers as shown in a video? No, that's not true: This incident did happen in the town of Hebron in the West Bank; but it happened in 2018. As recorded in the video, the child's family succeeded in freeing the child from the soldier's grasp. The…
Did the United States introduce a plan in November 2023 to ban meat consumption nationwide? No, that's not true: The claim implying that New York City's Mayor Eric Adams was somehow involved in a purported federal incentive is not supported by any evidence confirming the existence of such a plan. This is a variation of a previously debunked claim. The…
Did U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say that a ceasefire is when "somebody sees a fire"? No, that's not true: This is a deepfake video originating from a meme account that identified it as such with a "deepfake" hashtag. The voice track that mimics the voice of Ocasio-Cortez was added over a video clip taken from a livestream posted by the…
Did the Irish government deploy military vehicles to stop people expressing public outrage about the stabbings of children and a woman in Dublin? No, that's not true: According to the Irish Defence Forces, an image that showed military vehicles in Dublin posted on X on November 23, 2023, had "no connection" to an attempt by riot police to stop rioting…
Did VG, a Norwegian newspaper, report that the average age of Palestinians killed in Gaza was 5 years old, as claimed by an image on social media? No, that's not true: The newspaper reported that 5-year-olds represented the age group with the highest number of people killed in Gaza between October 7 and October 26, 2023. Taking the largest age…
Is cancer caused by the consumption of an "excess" amount of sugar "in your system"? No, that's not true: Sugar itself does not cause cancer. While sugar is not carcinogenic, meaning it does not cause cancer, consuming it is linked to some health conditions and physiological changes that may impact or exacerbate certain cancers, a dietician confirmed to Lead Stories.…
