Was a website that posted photos from Hunter Biden's laptop shut down for distributing child porn? No, that's not true: The social media account that originated the claim routinely posts satire. The tweet that began the claim was deleted from the account and a reply to the tweet read, "Folks, this is satire." The claim appeared as a post (archived…
The year is almost over, so it is good to look back. First, the numbers, as of December 15, 2022. This year we have published 1,555 fact checks in English (so far ...) 283 fact checks about COVID misinformation; 244 debunks of Russian propaganda and false claims about the invasion of Ukraine; 140 debunks of false claims about election fraud,…
Did Elon Musk tweet that Democrats paid former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey millions of dollars to block or delete the pages of people who posted about Hunter Biden's laptop during the 2020 election? No, that's not true: Lead Stories could find no evidence that Musk wrote the tweet nor any credible news reporting on its claims. The claim appeared in…
Did the staff of presidential candidate Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee suppress political speech leading up to the 2020 election against then-President Donald Trump when it requested certain tweets be reviewed? No, that's not true: all of the deleted tweets we were able to review apparently violated Twitter's Terms of Service -- in particular, the rule that forbids…
Did Rep. Jim Jordan play a video downloaded from Hunter Biden's laptop that incriminated House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff? No, that's not true: The video with this claim shows Jordan criticizing Schiff over matters that have nothing to do with Hunter Biden or the contents of a computer hard drive that media reports have linked to him. The claim…
Did Sen. Ted Cruz say he has Hunter Biden's laptop and leak a secret document implicating U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland? No, that's not true: This video does not include any of those claims. The video is an exchange between Cruz and Franita Tolson, the George T. and Harriet E. Pfleger Chair in Law at the University of Southern California…
Did the Supreme Court finally sign a verdict to impeach Speaker Pelosi? No, that's not true: The clickbait headline for a video that shows multiple republican lawmakers speaking but makes no mention of an impeachment of Pelosi and offers no evidence that it happened. The Supreme Court does not have the power to impeach a legislator, only the U.S. House…
Do only unhealthy people die from COVID-19? No, that's not true: The person posting the statement "Healthy people don't die from COVID" on social media doesn't explain what they meant by healthy, but people of all ages and a wide range of medical conditions have died from the virus. Age appears to be a greater indicator of risk, with more…
Summary: Mike Lindell's video series allegedly proving fraud in the November 2020 elections relies heavily on digital evidence in the form of files and animations that Lindell claims show attacks on the U.S. election infrastructure coming from China and other places. Lindell has never acknowledged where these files and animations came from. Lead Stories traced them back to a website…
Was one of the FBI special agents killed in Florida the "top investigator for Hunter Biden's laptop"? No, there is no evidence that claim is true. Special Agent Daniel Alfin was killed on February 2, 2021, as he attempted to serve a court-ordered federal search warrant for a violent crimes against children investigation. There is no evidence that he was…
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