Does a paper by Robert O. Young show that he conducted electron microscopy analysis on each of the four COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States and confirmed that there was graphene and parasites in all of them? No, that's not true: Graphene is not an ingredient in any of these vaccines. Analysis of the photos appearing in Young's paper…
Did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drop Canada's vaccine mandate because nine in every 10 COVID-19 deaths have been among the vaccinated? No, that's not true: The Canadian government made no such claim in the announcement of its plan to end the vaccine mandate for people entering the country. It did cite several other factors, however, including Canada's high vaccination…
Did Americans keep "100%" of their earnings up until 1913? Not exactly: While the 16th Amendment, which taxed individual income, was ratified in 1913, some higher-earning Americans paid income taxes between 1862 and 1872 to pay off the cost of the Civil War to the U.S. government. A tax expert with whom Lead Stories spoke listed additional pre-1913 taxes that…
Are iodine pills sold in a Canadian Home Hardware store? Yes, that's true: The operations manager for the store featured in a viral video told Lead Stories the pills are for sale at their location due to rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the threat of a possible nuclear war. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on…
Does a video circulating on social media show an elephant seal on a Florida street in the wake of Hurricane Ian? No, that's not true: The video is from a seaport community in southern Chile, where the large, flipper-footed mammal wandered into a residential area back in 2020. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on September 20, 2022, under…
Did Special Forces soldiers unleash "a hailstorm of gunfire" against Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agents who were attacking and robbing Hurricane Ian victims in Florida? No, that's not true: A Pentagon spokesperson told Lead Stories that this story is false. The claim appeared in a Real Raw News article published on September 29, 2022, and titled "Special Forces Fight…
Did Reuters publish a tweet claiming that Germany has invoked NATO's collective defense provision since the United States attacked the Nord Stream pipeline? No, that's not true: This tweet was not published by Reuters news agency, but by a satirical parody account. Although the account is clearly marked "(Satire)," it uses the real Reuters logo. Some users don't notice the…
Does an Oxford University study say COVID-19 vaccination increases the risk of infection by 44 percent? No, that's not true: The figure comes from a small subsection of the study and doesn't represent its overall conclusions. One of the study's authors told Lead Stories in a September 29, 2022, email that "our study support[s] previous research that Covid vaccines are…
Do any of the COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the United States contain graphene oxide? No, that's not true: Graphene oxide is not listed as an ingredient in any of the four COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. There is no publicly available credible evidence demonstrating graphene oxide is in any of the vaccines. The claim that graphene oxide…
Are four Range Rovers being given away because they "cannot be sold due to minor scratches"? No, that's not true: There is not a giveaway in North America for Range Rovers that have scratches, the company confirmed to Lead Stories. The false claim of slightly damaged Range Rovers being given away for free has been circulating on the internet for…
Did locals block a NATO column in Moldova on September 18, 2022? No, that's not true: The video that allegedly demonstrates the "evidence" was shot in 2016. The claim appeared in an English-language tweet (archived here) on September 18, 2022. It said: Column of #NATO military equipment blocked by residents of #Moldova. They blocked a convoy of NATO equipment, chanted…
Did President Joe Biden order the replacement of the U.S. dollar with a trackable spyware version of digital money that will give the government control over the bank accounts of all Americans? No, that's not true: None of that language appears anywhere in the order, a spokesman for the U.S. Treasury told Lead Stories. Biden did sign a March 2022…
Does this video show Italians take down the European Union (EU) flag and replacing it with an Italian flag after the right-wing Brothers of Italy group won an election in 2022? No, that's not true: This video is from December 13, 2013. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) where it was published on September 26, 2022. The…
Did Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner pocket $640 million in jobs as advisers to former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Both Trump and Kushner worked at the White House on a pro bono (unpaid) basis, although they earned millions from business interests outside government. The claim appeared in a Facebook post on August 12, 2022. It…
Do social media videos show a man protesting at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022? No, that's not true: The video is from a 2007 service at Westminster Abbey marking the 200th anniversary of the act to abolish the slave trade in Britain. Human rights campaigner Toyin Agbetu interrupted the commemorative service. One of the claims…
