California

Did an authentic news outlet report that the May 2025 expense report of the California Democratic Party showed it bought 200 pallets of bricks ahead of ICE protests in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook account that identifies the owner as a comedian working for Donald Trump. The bricks story did not include links…

Does a video on TikTok show "Bikers on the way to California to back ICE agents" in June of 2025? No, that's not true: The video was first posted to TikTok in November 2022 -- almost three years before protesters in Los Angeles took to the streets to block aggressive ICE immigration raids. The video's original poster was documenting bikers…

Did a photograph shared widely in June 2025 show California's first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom shopping in Beverly Hills during anti-ICE protests and unrest in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: The photograph was actually taken in January 2025. After initially claiming the picture showed Siebel Newsom shopping on June 8, the Daily Mail updated its story and issued a…

Did California Governor Gavin Newsom post fake photos of National Guard troops sleeping on a hard floor during their deployment to the Los Angeles riot zone in June of 2025, as a social media post claimed? No, that's not true: The post provides no evidence the images were AI-generated, other than a set of red arrows overlaid without explanation and…

Is Donald Trump's June 2025 mobilization of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles just like President George H.W. Bush's 1992 decision to mobilize the National Guard during riots in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: In 1992, both Gov. Pete Wilson and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley asked the President for National Guard to stop riots in Los…

Did a photo of troops sleeping on a floor, shared amid President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard in California in June 2025, in fact date to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021? No, that's not true: the AI chatbot ChatGPT made a mistake in identifying the photo as having first been published on a U.S. military website…

Does a video shared on social media show "lawless rioters" attacking a Los Angeles shop owner during "anti-American sovereignty riots" in June 2025? No, that's not true: The video was recorded at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Anaheim, California, on October 6, 2024. The video was included in reporting by local television stations and newspapers on that date. The store…

Did the judge in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs issue an arrest warrant for Ellen DeGeneres in May 2025? No, that's not true: The claim appeared in a YouTube video whose description labeled it "entirely fictional and crafted solely for entertainment." Despite widespread and intensive news coverage, no outlet covering the trial has mentioned any involvement by…

Was the latest book by Kamala Harris yanked from the shelves after it was found to be 30% plagiarized? No, that's not true: The former vice president has authored three books as of June 2025, including the last two published in 2019. Each of those books is still available for purchase online and in bookstores. Her first book, which was…

Did California's first female architect Julia Morgan design a reinforced concrete tower in 1904 that survived a 1906 San Francisco earthquake? Yes, that's true: The "El Campanil" bell tower on the Mills College campus in Oakland was undamaged by the magnitude 7.9 quake that devastated the area. The success of Morgan's pioneering use of concrete reinforced by steel was key…