Does a real video show Abdul El-Sayed and Ms. Rachel talking to kids about Israeli "colonizers"? No, that's not true: An AI detection tool concluded that the video showing the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan was generated using artificial intelligence, assigning it a 100% confidence score. The video was posted by an account that self-describes as an AI…

Did Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham say she was considering retirement after her controversy with DiJonai Carrington of the Chicago Sky? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Cunningham ever publicly stated that she was considering retirement. The claim is not supported by any official announcement from the team or by information on the Fever's website. The claim…

Does a video show a migrant eating a rat in Europe? No, that's not true: The video does show a person eating a rodent, but it was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2024. It does not show a migrant in Europe as claimed in social media posts during the 2026 migrant influx in Ceuta, Spain, an autonomous city…

Does a real video show a helicopter landing upside down and then flopping over in a field while bystanders watch in the distance? No, that's not true: The Hive Moderation content detection tool determined the video was 95.2% likely to be AI-generated. After a visual inspection, Lead Stories found several AI characteristic glitches in both visual continuity and human behavior…

Did American actor Sylvester Stallone say talking to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was "like listening to a high school girl"? No, that's not true: The claim originated from a page with a satire label that specifies everything on it is fictional. No credible media outlets reported the nonexistent story. The claim appeared in an article (archived here and here) published on…

Does a real photo show athletes wearing medals flipping the bird at President Donald Trump's back during the Patriot Games on Aug. 11, 2026, in Geneva, Ohio? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Trump was ever flipped off by the young athletes sitting behind him during the event. The image contains visual inconsistencies commonly associated with AI-generated…

Does a real image show Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in a revealing sports bra? No, that's not true: The image is a manipulated screenshot from a video posted to her Instagram account, digitally altered to make the sports bra appear more revealing than it actually is. In the original video, Ocasio-Cortez is wearing a high-neck, full-coverage sports bra.…

Does a real video show a landlord forcibly evicting a tenant while new tenants are already waiting on the doorstep? No, that's not true: The video is scripted entertainment content by a production company. The production watermark has been blurred out on the video posted on X, hiding the entertainment origin of the video. The claim appeared in a video…

Have you seen viral videos showing elaborate movie sets of small-scale cities and landscapes where the crew creates special effects -- explosions and natural disasters -- in front of a blue or green screen? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos recently and found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. They do not show real…

Does a real screenshot show a White House X post with "Nintendo Lives Matter" and images of what appear to be George Floyd and former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the image ever appeared on the White House's X account. An AI detection tool found a SynthID watermark, indicating the image…