California

Did an exit poll show that 92% of California voters thought Proposition 50 was a ballot measure to impeach President Trump? No, that's not true: The claim originated from a post on a satiric X account on which the original poster of the 92% claim repeatedly made it clear he was being sarcastic. There is no publicly available exit poll…

Were California Proposition 50 votes counted and reported on the day after Election Day but not the results for a 1% tax vote in Shasta County as a person claimed in a viral video? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the county election board confirmed to Lead Stories the results of the election in Shasta County, for both Prop…

This is what fact checkers call a "prebunk." A prebunk is like a debunk (another word for fact check), only it's an advance notice of an anticipated false claim. This article is intended to inoculate you from future outbreaks of a specific type of false claims about your favorite entertainment celebrities, sports stars, and politicians. We call this "Viet Spam"…

Does a video clip show new footage of the Comet 3I/ATLAS? No, that's not true: This video did not originate from any research astronomy agency monitoring the interstellar comet. It is uncredited footage showing a microscopic single-celled organism, a paramecium. The mislabeled video appeared in a post (archived here) published on X by @BGatesIsaPyscho on Oct. 27, 2025. The post…

Was Fox News host Brett Baier correct when he declared Chicago has "the highest murder rate of all the big cities" during an interview with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker? Yes, if you compare US cities with official populations over 1 million. Pritzker asserted Chicago ranks below 30th, but did not provide a citation for that number. Lead Stories found that…

Does a video clip show a young woman who had lung surgery because of energy drinks who will never be able to speak again? No, that's not true: The video footage was taken from another TikTok account where it was presented with no mention of energy drinks. The original @hey_itsabs video caption said that her lung had been punctured by…

Is this real dash cam video showing a truck driver cooking curry at 90 mph just before crashing into other vehicles and killing three people on California's I-10? No, that's not true: The California Highway Patrol, which investigated the accident and released the original dash cam video, had not seen the "cam 2" version, according to a CHP spokesman. The…

Is a video of an ICE agent deporting his own mother authentic? No, that's not true: The account that posted the video clearly labeled it "AI-generated parody - not real footage." The video shows signs it was produced by generative AI, such as scrambled symbols instead of clear letters on an officer's vest. The story appeared in an October 17,…

Did Danica Patrick donate $7 million to the Turning Point USA Super Bowl halftime show? No, that's not true: There is no proof that the former NASCAR driver has donated $7 million to the show that Turning Point USA announced they would host as an alternative to the official 2026 Super Bowl halftime show starring Bad Bunny. Patrick is a…

Are completed California Proposition 50 redistricting ballots visible through Sacramento County's mail-in envelopes? Yes, but that is missing context. A mark on a Prop 50 ballot can be seen through a hole in the vote-by-mail envelope from Sacramento County, Ca. if the ballot is folded with text on the outside and placed facing one of the holes on the envelope.…