Business

Do new documents from the Department of Justice Epstein files reveal that Erika Kirk used to work for Jeffrey Epstein? No, that's not true: A search of the publicly available DOJ file of Epstein investigation documents did not find any results containing evidence that the late Charlie Kirk's widow ever worked for convicted child abuser Epstein. The post making that…

Is a paper by Dr. Drew Pinsky, Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Harvey Risch, and nine others claiming that ivermectin and mebendazole improve cancer outcomes in 84.4% of cases a proper medical study? No, that's not true: Research experts told Lead Stories that the paper relies on an uncontrolled, self-reported survey with major bias, no independent verification of diagnoses or outcomes,…

Does a real video show the Saudi foreign minister stating that "the era of relying on the US has ended"? No, that's not true: According to three translation tools, the caption fabricated the content of the video it claimed to summarize. In reality, the clip showed Faisal bin Farhan discussing in 2022 Saudi Arabia's cooperation with the West and the…

Does a 3D model from scientists at the University of Manchester show how Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, may have looked? No, that's not true: This rendering is not a scientific reconstruction of the biblical brothers' faces -- it's yet another spoof in a long-running joke. The joke format has been around since 2018, pairing the…

Is Donald Trump closing all regional offices of the U.S. Forest Service? No, that's not true: Official terminology will change, but there will still be offices in many regions of the U.S. under the plan announced March 31, 2026. Fifteen new "State Offices", most of them in the national-lands-heavy western states, will replace the Forest Service's 1908 system of nine…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin say "Don't dare to touch the Strait of Hormuz" on April 1, 2026? No, that's not true: The posts attributing those words to him originated from self-described satire and parody accounts. The fake story was spreading across social media platforms paired with a well-known video meme showing Putin walking. The claim appeared in a post…

Does a video show a cyclist finding the Hidden Valley Ranch logo in real life? No, that's not true: While the clip of a man exploring a tranquil valley in Northern California is real, the logo derived from it is fake, and the landscape on Hidden Valley Ranch products does not match the valley in the video. Analysis also revealed…

Did former British Prime Minister Liz Truss blame "underground transgender mafia" for a KitKat chocolate heist? No, that's not true: The made-up quote originated from a satire account that had a history of attributing false statements about "underground transgender mafia" to Truss. As of this writing, no credible media outlet had reported the former prime minister making such a remark.…

Does a video of a burning ship actually show an oil tanker hit in the Strait of Hormuz on March 27, 2026? No, that's not true: No credible news organizations reported an oil tanker being hit in the Strait of Hormuz on that day. The video showed signs of AI generation. The claim appeared in a post (archived here, here…

Does a viral video show a real-life lunch date set up by a husband to confront his "cheating wife" at the location of her potential date? No, that's not true: The video was staged. It was one of many clips promoting an app that claims to detect whether a partner is cheating. The claim appeared in a post (archived here…

Did Lufthansa offer free business class upgrades to people in Israel to apologize for the Holocaust? No, that's not true: The company publicly denied it. Two online AI detectors said the image purportedly providing the proof was likely to have been generated by AI. The claim originated from a post (archived here) published by the @0xRacist X account on March…

Is the story of a man with "eleven properties in the metaverse" (including a "beachfront villa in Horizon Worlds") whose net worth peaked at $1.2 million real? No, that's not true: It appeared on the X account of content creator and security researcher Peter Girnus. His account features several other satirical tall tales about being a leader or executive of…

Does a viral video purporting to show the ruins of an Amazon data center in the Middle East document a real scene? No, that's not true: The video contained multiple signs pointing to AI, including an incorrectly spelled company's name and a person who appears headless and then grows a head in less than a second. According to Google, the…

Is a new Disneyland theme park valued at "$100 billion" coming to Ohio as some social media posts claim? No, that's not true: The news originated on Mouse Trap News, a satirical publication specializing in Disney-related stories. The site described the story about a new park in Cincinnati as "totally made-up" in the footer of the article. The story came…

Does real video show a court case involving a teen who illegally worked night shifts in order to care for his sister after their parents died? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. The story does not include any specifics about names, locations or dates. The video appears to show three different courtrooms and contains glitches typical of AI-generated…

Does a viral image of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi wearing "Don't ban insider trading" lapel sticker show what she wore to the 2026 State of the Union speech by President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: A picture of her was digitally edited to change the words on her sticker. The real badge worn by the former speaker of the House…

Did Sam Bankman-Fried write a post on X, offering Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez money in bitcoins to fund a 2028 presidential run? No, that's not true: As of this writing, there was no such post on his account. No credible media organizations published reports about the purported entry. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on February 24, 2026.…

Did Kash Patel, Sen. John Kennedy, Pete Buttigieg, Vince Gill and others demand that former President Barack Obama return millions he earned through ownership related to "Obamacare"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories that swap-in those and other names are part of an international network of websites and Facebook pages that publish fake news stories about famous people to…

Did a meme about the "National Intelligence Agency" discovering Bernie Sanders owns several companies and bank accounts in China originate from actual news reports? No, that's not true: It originated on a satirical Facebook page run by a liberal man with a long history of tricking conservatives into sharing made-up content. The meme had an explicit disclaimer from the Facebook…

Is a video of Jeremy Clarkson talking about refusing a "£100 million deal" from Bill Gates to buy his Diddly Squat farm real? No, that's not true: The social media post in which the video appeared came with a lengthy disclaimer largely hidden below a "See more" link. Clarkson also left a comment under a now deleted post that appeared…