Business

Did Pfizer recently agree to pay $2.3 billion for medical fraud, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice and was this related to Covid-19 vaccination? No, that's not true: Pfizer did agree to pay such a settlement in 2009, but not in 2023. The settlement was for the misbranding of the anti-inflammatory…

Does a social-media video of a young woman knocking on a door in distress to seek shelter from a male stalker, who claims to be her husband, depict an actual event? No, that's not true: It's a staged skit. The video, which features actors, is part of a three-part horror story shot by a French content creator. The claim that…

Is garlic a "fake food"? No, that's not true: A nutrition expert confirmed to Lead Stories that "Garlic is a real food." The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also recognizes garlic as a food that is safe for human consumption. The claim appeared in a video post on Facebook (archived here) on September 13, 2023. The caption under the video…

Did the U.S. Army arrest U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen for committing treason? No, that's not true: The website where this claim was made has a disclaimer that states it publishes satirical content. The U.S. military is currently not authorized by Congress to arrest civilians. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on September…

Does California Senate Bill 553 make it illegal to confront or fight back against looters, burglars and shoplifters? No, that's not true: California SB 553 does not fine employees who confront shoplifters, the senator who sponsored the bill and legal experts told Lead Stories. It requires businesses to have a plan in place for employees to prevent workplace violence. The…

Did President Joe Biden describe African-American and Hispanic workers and veterans as "workers without high school diplomas"? No, that's not true: He was talking about unemployment rates for different groups of people. "Workers without high school diplomas" was one of the categories. The phase was not referring to African-American and Hispanic workers. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Did Facebook or its parent company Meta announce a plan to charge all of the platform's users $4.99 a month for access? Will copying and pasting a post about the change allow people to "opt out" or "bypass the system"? No, none of that is true: Neither Facebook nor Meta made such an announcement as of this writing. Different variations…

Did CNN report that Cash App went bankrupt and any funds a person had in their account would be given back to them in bankruptcy court? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find any evidence that CNN reported on this claim or that Cash App announced it was seeking bankruptcy court protection. At the time of writing, all…

Did the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) attempt to substitute "most salt in America" with a single alternative that contains "mRNA chemicals" and is produced by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates? No, that's not true: An FDA representative told Lead Stories that the proposal would only expand the options for food manufacturers to use salt substitutes. The proposal, which is not…

Did former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines turn down a $3 million partnership with Nike? No, that's not true: This claim comes from a satirical website that has a history of fabricating content surrounding popular political topics and figures. The website has a disclaimer that contains the line, "Everything on this website is fiction." Lead Stories could not find…

Did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ban Tesla CEO Elon Musk from Facebook? Has Musk responded to Zuckerberg's alleged statement? No, neither of those are true: This claim comes from a satirical website and was originally posted in March 2023 labeled as satire before it was republished, without the satire label, in August 2023. Lead Stories could not find any evidence…

Does an image show a single man in China breaking up couples' seating arrangements in a movie theater on Valentine's Day? No, there's no evidence of that: The image actually shows the reopening of a movie theater in Beijing amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on August 16, 2023. The…

Did Bloomberg publish a story saying that former President Barack Obama was a "middle man" for the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at J.P. Morgan? Did Obama help the disgraced financier to foster ties with the banking institution? No, that's not true: Bloomberg did not write anything remotely similar in August 2023. The claim on social media distorted a Bloomberg…

Does Amtrak have a promotion for a $1 card that allows every U.S. resident to ride their trains with no extra charges for a year? No, that's not true: An Amtrak spokesperson told Lead Stories that the card is a scam offer. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on August 16, 2023. The caption of the…

Did CNN break the news that Elon Musk was unveiling an investment project, and did Musk make a guest appearance via live feed to introduce his new AI trading platform? No, that's not true: This fake promotion is made with real but repurposed video clips that have had an AI text-to-speech voiceover added to them. The video of Musk was…

Did 14 American cities join a "World Economic Forum treaty" imposing a total ban on meat, dairy and private cars by 2030? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, there is no such WEF treaty. The source of the claim cited an unrelated report that explored several emission reduction models and was not meant to become a law…

Are insurance companies denying Maui fire losses due to "zoning infractions?" No, that's not true: A Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs spokesman told Lead Stories there have been no reports of claim denials "due to zoning infractions" as of August 18, 2023. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on Bitchute on August…

Did government officials in Maui pass a law prohibiting new building unless some sort of "serious natural disaster" occurred, thereby raising suspicions about the cause of the deadly August 2023 wildfires on the Hawaiian island? No, that's not true: The claim appears to be referring to legislation that applied to hotels and other so-called transient accommodations. The law did not…

Did Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announce in mid-August 2023 that the state will take ownership of Lahaina to convert it into "a smart city"? No, that's not true: The governor discussed a range of measures aimed at protecting housing security for local populations in response to people's concerns about displacement in the aftermath of wildfires. The claim appeared in a…

Does a "secret CDC report" show hundreds of thousands of children "died suddenly" in the United States following the COVID-19 vaccine rollout? No, that's not true: The author or authors of the article making the claims did not find any such report; instead, they created their own document using publicly available Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data they found…