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Did a documentary produced for the Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" provide "new evidence" from a NASA satellite photo that shows a living megalodon off the coast of Brazil? No, that's not true: The megalodon was a species of megatooth shark that has been extinct for several million years. The Shark Week episode "Megalodon: The New Evidence" has disclaimers and is…

Does a nighttime video on social media showing a large group of people marching down a street depict a pro-Palestinian protest in France? No, that's not true: It shows soccer fans in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The video was shot on October 5, 2023, two days before the start of the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict. The claim was implied in a post…

Does a video show a grieving father cuddling the lifeless body of his toddler who died as a result of the October 2023 Hamas-Israel violence? No, that's not true: The recording predates the October 2023 conflict. It went viral for the first time in 2021 with a description about a sick child being comforted by a pet cat. The story…

Is President Joe Biden offering Black individuals $300 an hour to pick cotton? No, that's not true: This meme is satire and is not based on any current events or proposals from the U.S. leader. The meme appears to be a spin-off from a satrical Instagram page named Hoods News that boasts it has "The best memes and fake news…

Does a collage from social media prove that nobody showed up to celebrate Brazil's Independence Day in the country's capital in 2023? No, that's not true: The composite image shared on social media does not contain any photos from 2023. The claim originated from a post (archived here) on Instagram on September 7, 2023. It opened: Happy Independence Day Brazil…

Does a video shared to social media on August 23, 2023, show Russian oligarch Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin's jet "on fire before crashing"? No, that's not true: While the video itself is authentic, it documented an unrelated plane crash that reportedly occurred nearly two months earlier on June 24, 2023, "near the village of Kantemirovk," about 700 miles from the village…

Was White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre caught in a "drunk driving accident" by DC Metro Police? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to support this claim. The White House press office called the assertion "false" and the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., told Lead Stories that there's "no record" of any such incident. The claim appeared…

Did Bill Gates hatch a convoluted plan to create a demand for anti-malaria drugs he funded by also funding malaria-fighting programs while developing a means to introduce malaria to the United States through genetically modified mosquitoes? No, that's not true: Genetically modified male mosquitoes being tested in the U.S. - the type that don't spread malaria and also don't bite…

Is the federal government launching a new program that will allow officials to control individuals' bank accounts, and have officials of Visa and Mastercard warned about such a program? No, that's not true: The Federal Reserve is simply launching a real-time payment (RTP) system that does not aim to intrude on bank customers' accounts, according to a spokesperson. The claim…

Does a video on Mexico's Milenio Television channel show a Mexican cartel member carrying a U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missile? No, that's not true: Raytheon Technologies, which makes the Javelin, told Lead Stories that the video shows another type of shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon. The claim appeared in a post on Twitter (archived here) by Mexican journalist Azucena Uresti on May 31,…