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 the Brazilian military kill the leaders of the Red Command cartel in early December 2022, and prepare to "take over" the country? No, that's not true: The article circulating on social media that makes these claims contains multiple factual inaccuracies and recycled false claims. The claim appeared in an article published by thegatewaypundit.com on December 5, 2022 (archived here.)…
Did Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat who ran for Senate in the 2022 midterms, win 1,100 votes from a town with only 700 people? No, that's not true: The New Hampshire Secretary of State told Lead Stories the inflated vote tally was the result of "human error" and had since been corrected. Election results for New Hampshire can be…
Did Maricopa County, Arizona ballots make a stop with no observers at "Runbeck Printing Company" to be sorted before they were sent to the county for counting? No, that's not true: The claim was made without direct evidence. Maricopa County's spokesperson said bipartisan teams of election workers took sealed envelope packets to Runbeck Election Services, where envelope signatures are scanned…
Do online photographs show absentee ballots arriving at a Detroit processing center on Election Day "hours after the legal deadline" for counting ballots? No, that's not true: Election officials in Detroit say late-night deliveries are the normal -- and legal -- part of the process of collecting absentee ballots for verification and tabulation. The claim appeared in a November 9,…
Do allegedly discovered "dozens of boxes" with "zero Bolsonaro votes" offer evidence confirming election fraud in Brazil? No, that's not true: Brazil doesn't use paper ballots -- voters cast ballots electronically. The claim appeared a tweet (archived here) published on November 7, 2022. It said: Update from Brazilian leaders: Military audit of the election will now be released Wednesday. Dozens…
Do differences between an unofficial election data stream provided by Edison Research and official sources prove "Something Is Very Wrong" with the 2020 election results? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that anything is wrong with the official data even if there were problems with the privately supplied data results from Edison, which delivers unofficial vote tallies to…
Did a Yuma County, Arizona, woman plead guilty to a role in a sophisticated ballot trafficking ring that supposedly stole the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Guillermina Fuentes did plead guilty on June 2, 2022, to "one count of Ballot Abuse, a Class 6 Felony, for her role in an August 2020 Primary Election 'ballot…
Is there proof of law enforcement raids on multiple Arizona nonprofit organizations in a "2000 Mules"-driven ballot trafficking investigation? No, there's no evidence that's true: Reporting by The Arizona Republic puts two uniformed officers and two plainclothes investigators from the Arizona attorney general's office at the office of just one nonprofit: Comité de Bien Estar in San Luis in May…
Did the Wisconsin Assembly vote to withdraw Joe Biden's 10 electoral votes? No, that's not true: A Republican representative introduced a resolution that called for "reclaiming" the president's votes. The resolution was referred to an assembly committee, and the chair of that committee said there is "ZERO chance" he'll advance the resolution, which he alternately described as "illegal" and "just…
Lead Stories is a U.S. based fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or
inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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