Have you seen viral videos showing fights between captive insects and small animals? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos recently and found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. A growing number of social media accounts feature nothing but AI-generated videos of staged fights between captive insects, small reptiles, and animals. Many of these are…

Does a viral image of actor Elliot Page actually show him on the August 2026 Men's Health magazine cover? No, that's not true: The picture originated from a self-described satire account. The image's later variations removed the watermark linking the picture with that account. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X by @Glinner on July 16, 2026.…

Did FIFA President Gianni Infantino announce that the organization was going to wait until after the final 2026 World Cup game to make a decision regarding the Falklands banner displayed by players from Argentina after their win over England? No, that's not true: The account that posted the quote is a parody account. There have been no announcements by FIFA…

Did former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeal to China to meddle in the 2020 election during a TV interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC? No, that's not true: Clinton posed the hypothetical question while mocking special counsel Robert Mueller. In his report, Mueller had dismissed Donald Trump's call for Russia to help obtain Clinton's private emails in the…

Is a video of a woman tied up in a kitchen begging for food from the Epstein files? No, that's not true: The clip is from a comedy sketch included in a 2010 review of a "Star Wars" movie. The woman in the footage is an actor named Jocelyn Ridgely, who played the character Nadine in multiple "Mr. Plinkett" "Star…

Does a real yearbook photo show an edgy punk teenage Pete Hegseth with black spiky hair and eyeliner? No, that's not true: The image is AI-generated and is not Pete Hegseth's yearbook photo. Forest Lake High School has an archive of past yearbooks and the real yearbook photos of Hegseth in his sophomore, junior, and senior year are different. The…

Did U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. say, "Infertility is genetic. If your parents couldn't have kids, then you won't either"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Kennedy ever made this statement, either seriously or as a joke. Variations of this phrase circulated as a joke online for nearly four years before…

Is Timothy Donahue the ICE agent who shot and killed Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine on July 13, 2026? No, that's not true: Neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor the Maine Attorney General's Office has released the identity of the federal immigration agent involved in the shooting. A news report in April 2026 also identifies Donahue as a Border Patrol…

Did Trump go "apocalyptically angry" over people dubbing the 2026 cyclosporiasis outbreak "Trumporrhea"? No, that's not true: No credible news outlets reported that. The rumor originated from a self-described satire account that claimed it "improved" facts. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X where it was published by @LucasSa56947288 on July 13, 2026. It read: 🚨JUST IN:…

Is an image of a U.S. Navy Blue Angels flyover on Pensacola Beach in Florida real? No, that's not true: Although the Blue Angels ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a low flyover during the July 15, 2026, air show, the image in question is not from that event. Instead, the image contains signs that it was created using…