Does a video show an actual U.S. strike on the Iranian drone carrier IRIS Shahid Bagheri or any Iranian aircraft carrier? No, that's not true: The clip is AI-generated and labeled "Made with AI." An AI detection tool also concluded that the video was "likely AI-generated." Additionally, visual and audio analysis revealed U.S. fighter jets on the flight deck and…
Did the Armenian Mirror-Spectator actually publish a report saying that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to resettle 250,000 refugees who are currently in EU countries? No, that's not true: Neither this news outlet nor any other journalistic publication produced such a report. Lead Stories found no traces of the alleged agreement. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published…
Did the family of three sisters who drowned in Brighton, England, in May 2026 previously run a GoFundMe campaign for their mother, whose body was never found? No, that's not true: The body of the mom, Janice Adetoro, was recovered from a lake in Birmingham, England, in early February 2010. There is no evidence that a GoFundMe was ever started,…
Did the British Broadcasting Corp. publish a video report that French President Emmanuel Macron is deploying 800 French Foreign Legion soldiers to Armenia? No, that's not true: The British news channel did not report that Macron is running a personal security service for a panicked Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. There are no other reports from credible news organizations that…
Did the White House publish a post commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of Harambe the Gorilla? Yes, that's true: The official White House account on X (formerly Twitter) made a post on May 27, 2026, on Harambe's birthday, and the eve of the 10-year anniversary of his death at the Cincinnati Zoo. The post (archived here) was published…
Did Israeli-based news outlet Haaretz report that Zelenskyy's former associate Timur Mindich fled to Israel carrying "800kg of gold" on a private jet? No, that's not true: The claim shared in viral posts originated from a counterfeit website that mimicked Haaretz. No credible news organizations reported on "800kg of gold" supposedly carried by Mindich on board the plane bound for…
Does a real video show a woman stuck upside down in a water slide? No, that's not true: The clip is digitally generated, not authentic footage. An AI detection tool concluded that the video was 100% likely AI-generated, and a visual analysis revealed additional AI artifacts. Lead Stories found no credible news coverage or eyewitness video of such an incident.…
Is the color footage showing a 1923 demonstration of one-wheeled roller skates or cycle-skates real? Yes, that's true: The movie footage from 1923 is real, but it has been colorized. This design of the skates by a French inventor was promoted with some races in 1923. Black and white archive footage of a skating demonstration and one of the races…
Does an online graphic accurately depict changes in the net worth of recent presidents from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden? Yes, that's true: Despite some formatting glitches, the figures in the AI-generated infographic were originally compiled by two personal finance publications using publicly available information and estimates from universities, as well as financial media outlets. While exact net worth figures…
Does a viral video show alleged Muslim crowds attending Hajj 2026? No, that's not true: An AI-Generated Content Detection tool concluded the video was 95.5% likely made by AI. It contained a watermark pointing to a specific generative video model. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by @dom_lucre on X on May 26, 2026. It opened: 🔥🚨DEVELOPING:…
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