Did California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticize Nick Shirley, or did Sen. John Neely Kennedy criticize Adam Schiff, saying "Lock him up for lying to Congress, abusing power, and betraying the public trust!"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. A search of Google News…
Did Mark Twain say, "If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you do read it, you're misinformed"? No, that's not true: There's no reliable evidence that the American author and humorist ever made such a statement. It does not appear in quote compilations searched by Lead Stories. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @KnowledgeArchiv…
Does a viral video show real-life confrontations involving transgender and LGBTQ+ people trying to access women's restrooms? No, that's not true: The clip was AI-generated. The account that posted it first had a corresponding label, and the video contained multiple artifacts that ruled out the possibility of it being authentic footage. The claim originated from a post (archived here, here…
Is this a real photo of Hillary Clinton pulling Jeffrey Epstein's tie in front of Bill Clinton? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool found it to be 99.8% likely AI-generated. A separate analysis further revealed a SynthID watermark, indicating the image was created or edited using Google AI tools. The claim appeared in a post (archived…
Does a video of an ICE agent taking a U.S. citizen off a plane in Texas show a real incident? No, that's not true: The video was a scripted skit performed by actors, showing a person wearing a face covering and flashing a badge before removing a man from a plane. The TikTok account where it was originally posted features…
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…
Does a real video show Iranian missiles destroying a U.S. Navy warship in the Strait of Hormuz? No, that's not true: There are no credible news reports of such an attack, and the clip appears to be from a military simulation video game known for its realistic graphics. There is no evidence that Iranian missiles hit an American military vessel…
Did Erika Kirk announce she was opening an orphanage in honor of Charlie Kirk? No, that's not true: A video on TikTok repeats a false claim which began circulating on social media in late October 2025. There is no record of Erika Kirk announcing plans to build a school for orphans in honor of her late husband. The copy/paste posts…
Does a photo show Hollywood actors, including Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, attending the funeral of Chuck Norris? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool found it to be 100% likely AI-generated. A separate analysis further revealed a SynthID watermark, indicating the image was created or edited using Google AI tools. The claim appeared in a post…
Does a viral screenshot deliver a real extract from Michael Wolff's book about U.S. President Donald Trump demanding a "gorilla channel" in the White House? No, that's not true: It's an old joke that first emerged in January 2018 as a response to the revelations in Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury.' Lead Stories confirmed that the book contains no mention…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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