Did Sky News report that Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar is withdrawing from the election in early April 2026? No, that's not true: The British news channel has not reported that Magyar has dropped out of the race for prime minister. There is also no credible evidence that he has ended his bid in this highly contested election. The claim…
Did conservative political commentator and podcaster Tucker Carlson say, "Trump faked his assassination attempt in Butler," Pa., in July 2024? No, that's not true: Carlson has asked questions about the Butler assassination plot. But there are no reliable reports to support the claim that he ever said the attack on then-candidate Donald Trump was staged. The claim appeared in a…
Did CNN rely on an unnamed "fake news site from Nigeria" to report on Iran's ceasefire statements on April 7, 2026, as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence that CNN relied on a Nigerian website. The initial CNN report said that the statement attributed directly to the Supreme National Security Council was…
Is this real footage of an American F-15 fighter jet being shot down by Iran? No, that's not true: The clip appears to come from a military simulation video game, and the same video was posted online about a month before the reported shootdown of a U.S. F-15 in Iran in early April 2026. An online AI detection tool estimated…
Did Bad Bunny and other famous people including Blake Shelton, Cardi B, Tom Jones, Andrea Bocelli say that they were supporting peaceful demonstrators via the National Defense Fund? No, that's not true: The claim was an example of so-called "Viet Spam" campaigns of nearly identical made-up clickbait stories, each featuring a different famous person, created to drive traffic to web…
Does a real video show Iranian missiles destroying a U.S. Navy warship in the Strait of Hormuz? No, that's not true: There are no credible news reports of such an attack, and the clip appears to be from a military simulation video game known for its realistic graphics. There is no evidence that Iranian missiles hit an American military vessel…
Does a video from the Epstein Files show Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, in a private helicopter at an airport? No, that's not true: There is no evidence this video came from the Department of Justice (DOJ) public release of "Epstein Files". None of the social media posts with the video contained a file number from the release. Additionally, Doug…
Did U.S. President Donald Trump write a post about winning "the Iran thing" in a "Bigly" way on March 19, 2026? No, that's not true: The post did not originate from Trump's account. The image of the entry, as it first appeared on social media, carried a satire label. The claim originated from a post (archived here) published on X…
Are U.S. soldiers "openly refusing orders" to deploy "en masse" to Iran as a viral Facebook post claimed? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that large numbers of American service members are refusing deployment orders. Claims circulating on social media misrepresent online activity, and the hashtags #SoldiersRefuse and #NoWarWithIran are not trending No. 1 worldwide with 18 million…
Does a viral image accurately depict damage to a U.S. installation in Bahrain after a drone or other strike? No, that's not true: Though there were news reports of several strikes in the area, the viral before/after image contains several inconsistencies. The image showing damage to a white dome and other buildings appears to show several extra structures that were…
Lead Stories is a 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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