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Is there a rising number of $2.8 million statues erected or underway to honor people like Dolly Parton, George Strait, Bruce Springsteen, Bill Clinton, Shania Twain, Jimmy Page, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Waltz King André Rieu, and others? No, that's not true: Multiple social media posts using nearly identical language and the $2.8M figure have cranked out the story to appeal…

Does a real video show a body-armor-wearing riot policeman smiling as he pepper-sprays a woman confronting him at a protest? No, that's not true: The video is labeled "Sora" with watermarks indicating it was created using OpenAI's text-to-video app. It originated on an account devoted to improbable wild animal videos, also labeled as Sora productions. Sora creates fake but "hyperreal"…

Does a photo show a well-dressed French detective working the case of the Crown Jewels stolen from the Louvre? No, that's not true: The original poster later said it was a "fantasy version" she did not regret posting. There is no indication that this man is a detective working this case. The viral photo, and one other from the same…

Did convicted killer Bryan Kohberger's sister, Melissa Kohberger, write a book about his murder of University of Idaho students that is for sale on Amazon? No, that's not true: The attorney for the Kohberger family told Lead Stories that Melissa Kohberger has not published anything relevant to her brother's case. Amazon told Lead Stories the book has been removed for…

Did the woman known as "Phillies Karen" file a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against Major League Baseball? No, that's not true: The page that originally posted the claim is a self described satire account. The woman who became infamous as "Phillies Karen" after she took a ball from a boy at a Philadelphia baseball game has not been publicly identified as of…

Did a graphic including a short-haired person, labeled "Your body during pregnancy" appear in an official King's College Hospital NHS poster in the UK, as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told Lead Stories the poster was not produced by the trust nor displayed at its hospitals. The…

Was a Secret Service agent standing with Donald Trump after he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, also standing close to Charlie Kirk when he was fatally shot in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025? No, that's not true: The male Secret Service agent holding Trump's left arm as Trump raised his right fist in the air…

Did Singer Patti LaBelle silence Karoline Leavitt using just "seven words" in a viral video clip that was recorded off live TV? No, that's not true: The story was made up by a foreign clickbait farm, online searches brought up no such video. Very similar stories using the names of other celebrities have been spread by spammy networks like these…

Did President Trump sign into law an income tax exemption for families making less than $120,000? No, that's not true: No such exemption has passed the U.S. House and Senate. There is no such exemption on the official list of laws signed by Trump. The claim appeared in a September 4, 2025 TikTok video (archived here) published by the AppalachianQueen5…

Is a video showing a huge tsunami wave destroying a city authentic? No, that's not true: An online AI detection tool found the video is 99.5 percent generated by artificial intelligence tools. While this video does not have a label, the account that posted the video shares other videos that are clearly AI-generated. The video (archived here) was posted on…