Do factual posts declare South Korea found a "powerfully simple way to fight childhood hunger" in November 2025 by placing vending machines with free food near schools? No, that's not true: Images of such "food vending machines" on social media can't be traced to credible journalistic organizations. South Korea does offer free lunches to all schoolchildren, but they include a…

Did a "new" viral video posted Nov. 18, 2025 show "In Germany, large crowds of Muslims walk directly through a Christmas market chanting 'There is no God but Allah , Allah Akbar'"? No, that's not true. No chants of "Allah Akbar" (God is Great) can be heard on the clip's audio. The video was not new, either, having been on…

Does a real video show a fight between a moose and a polar bear in Alaska? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. The video contains several glitches and inconsistencies typical in AI-generated content. It also originated from a YouTube channel specializing in AI-generated tutorials and content, and was labeled with the disclaimer, "Sound or visuals were significantly edited…

Did President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy invest $500 million or $1.5 billion "of his own money" in "a ski resort in Western Ukraine"? No, that's not true: Publicly known figures were misattributed. Talking to Lead Stories, the project's developer denied not only Zelenskyy's participation but also the presence of any direct government funding. Investment firm BlackRock, named in social media…

Is an image of a Walmart clearance sale on all Trump Merchandise for 99 cents in November 2025 real? No, that's not true: The photo includes a Gemini watermark in the lower-right corner, indicating it was created with Google's generative AI app. There are several misspellings on the merchandise that confirm it is fake, including a red MAGA hat that…

Does Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani have a plan to require all New York students to learn Arabic numerals? No, that's not true: Viral posts making that claim are satirical in nature because Arabic numerals are already widely used everywhere in New York and the rest of the United States. The joke plays on the ignorance of certain audiences not knowing "Arabic…

Does a real video show a professor screaming at her students that using a product called Turbo AI is cheating, while rolling on the floor of a lecture hall, red-faced? No, that's not true: This video is one of more than a dozen identically screen-titled fake videos that swap in different "professors" and classrooms. Visual anomalies reveal the AI origin…

Are recordings of purported calls of President Trump ranting that he would start a war or let the country starve to avoid releasing the Epstein files real? No, that's not true: The earliest versions of social media posts with two purported Trump recordings include the Sora watermark, which indicates that OpenAI tool was used to make them. None of the…

Is a video that shows a giant Pacific Ocean rogue wave crashing over the deck of a cruise ship called "Venessa" real? No, that's not true: The account that originally posted the video clearly labeled it "ai video". The account also labeled it "cinematic ai." The claim appeared in a November 15, 2025 video posted on Instagram account @nautical.daily (archived…

Did a monkey fire an Indian guard's rifle while he was taking a nap at a checkpoint? No, that's not true: There are many clues that the video is AI-generated, notably the distortions in key positions of the video indicating watermarks from the AI video generating app have been removed. Other glitches can be seen in the Indian flag, the…