Business

Did a running "DOGE Clock" on a website that monitors the national debt say efforts to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse had already saved over $8 billion by January 22, 2025? No, that's not true: The privately run website includes a disclaimer that the DOGE Clock shows the "Real-Time Savings Objective," not actual savings. Congress has yet to pass…

Is there evidence that California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered firefighters not to use Starlink modems while battling wildfires in the Los Angeles area in January 2025? No, that's not true: Newsom denied allegations he had ordered the modems to be confiscated in a post on X. Any firefighter who needs a Starlink device can get one through the Los Angeles…

Did Tesla batteries cause the fire at the Monterey, California, power plant on January 16, 2025 or was their presence related to it? No, that's not true: Fire officials said the fire at the Moss Landing facility started inside a building operated by Vistra Energy, not at a nearby Tesla battery storage area. A Vistra Energy spokesperson told Lead Stories…

Do homeowners have "only six days left" to claim $52,000 in homeowner relief from a program President-elect Donald Trump initiated in January 2025? No, that's not true: A misleading video touts a nonexistent program to entice people to enter their personal information on a website. There is no record of a program as described, or of Trump saying, "Give our…

Does an authentic image show Sen. Bernie Sanders wearing a T-shirt that reads, "Deport Elon Musk"? No, that's not true: This is not a genuine photograph. The picture bears a small "Grok" watermark in the lower right-hand corner, a label indicating that it was created using an AI program. Additionally, the tools at TrueMedia.org determined that the image was 96…

Do filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission prove the United States "owns" Canada? No, that's not true: The filings are standard procedure when a foreign country wants to sell securities in the United States. The Form 18-K is specifically "for Foreign Governments and Political Subdivisions." The United States has filed similar paperwork in the United Kingdom. The claim originated…

Did Elon Musk start a public campaign in early January 2025 to cancel "The View"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no confirmation that Musk posted what was attributed to him. No media organizations indexed by Google News reported on what was described as a public campaign. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Threads on January…

Are several social media posts truly expressing concern over an actual missing teen named "Natallia Goodman"? No, that's not true: "Natallia Goodman" was supposedly missing in multiple locations, indicating that this is a made-up story. The posts spreading the information are part of a common social media real estate scam. One instance of the claim appeared in a post (archived…

Did billionaire Mark Cuban move a company from Texas to California as of January 6, 2025? No, that's not true: A post that reported as much included a photo of a building with the logo "Cost Plus Drug Company," likely a reference to a Texas-based company owned by Cuban named "Cost Plus Drugs." As of this writing, that company had…

Did a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study find that children who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are more likely to get infected than those who are unvaccinated? No, that's not true: The study of children aged six months to four years found there was not a big difference in infection rates, especially for those who hadn't had COVID…

Was the New Orleans attacker an immigrant, as a social media post implied? No, that's not true: The FBI and President Joe Biden said Shamsud-Din Jabbar was born in Texas and served many years in the United States Army. A widely shared video shows a man with the same name and likeness saying he was born and raised in Beaumont,…

Are all mortgage contracts dischargeable by filing letters and forms to the IRS and the U.S. Treasury, as a social media post claims? No, that's not true: An IRS spokesman told Lead Stories that "there is no U.S. IRS form that negates a legitimate contract." Mortgage lending is subject to laws and regulations. Mortgages are contracts enforceable in court. The…

Did Elon Musk publish a social media post saying, "My tolerance for Ketamine is unlimited," just before midnight on December 26, 2024? No, that's not true: A fabricated screenshot was posted by a parody account on X. The screenshot contained the same time and date stamp as a real reply Musk posted on X that read, "My tolerance for subtards…

Did a Facebook post prove Elon Musk and Taylor Swift jointly endorsed a power-saving device called "Stop Watt"? No, that's not true: There is no record of either Musk or Swift publicly endorsing this product. Photos used in social media posts that reported the supposed endorsement were found to have likely been AI-generated. These posts included a link to a…

Did an Oprah Winfrey charity called "Coats for Kids" take in over $140 million while only purchasing "310 jackets" as of December 2024? No, that's not true: The information in this post initially appeared in an article on a self-described satirical website that includes the disclaimer, "Everything on this website is fiction." Even so, some social media users shared the…

Was a "No Incels" poster that appeared at a bus shelter in New York City an official ad for the social network Bluesky? No, that's not true: The poster was not a paid ad, the contractor that manages city bus shelter advertising told Lead Stories. The poster was placed there by "a person who had no authority to post anything,"…

Did Elon Musk say that he bought Boeing? No, that's not true: Musk did not announce the purchase on X, and Boeing published no such information as of this writing. No information about this supposed post has been reported on the website of any news outlets indexed by Google News. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on…

Did only House Democrats vote against a spending bill on December 19, 2024, that would have kept the government open until March 2025? No, that's not true: While 197 Democrats voted no, so did 38 Republicans. The bill required a two-thirds supermajority in the House, which meant Republicans needed at least some Democratic Party support. The claim appeared in a…

Did social media posts accurately cite the words of Elon Musk's mother, Maye, on having children? No, that's not true: The viral quote was a review a critic made of Maye Musk's remarks about having children, not a direct quote. Maye Musk did not mention her "son's factory workers" while discussing the topic on X and Fox News in December…

Does reporting by the entertainment weekly "Variety" suggest that ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos is "expected to be fired" from the network after its settlement with President-elect Donald Trump? No, that's not true: ABC News told Lead Stories that he signed a new deal with the network after it settled a defamation case with Trump. No information about his supposed…