Are Facebook posts claiming to show "a simple stone marker" where three U.S. states converge real? No, that's not true: These images and text, which do not reflect real geography, are clickbait posts made with artificial intelligence tools. The Facebook pages used to distribute them impersonate local interest groups in each state, but are managed from Bangladesh. Among the false…
Was Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of shooting at attendees at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner, on the payroll of the Democratic National Committee and several California Democratic politicians, including Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and Adam Schiff? No, that's not true: A DNC spokesperson, a Newsom spokesperson, and a Pelosi spokesperson all told Lead Stories the…
Are viral posts real that claim Cole Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, worked as a security staff member for sports teams? No, that's not true: The false claim is part of an AI-generated series of articles and posts created by a spam operation managed from Vietnam. Fake fan pages are used to target North American…
Are viral posts real that claim Cole Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, worked as a driver for dozens of celebrities? No, that's not true: The false claim is part of an AI-generated series of articles and posts created by a spam operation managed from Vietnam. Fake fan pages are used to target North American and…
Did Cole Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, work as a production crew member on films and tours for a dozen actors and musicians? No, that's not true: The false claim is part of an AI-generated series of articles and posts created by a spam operation managed from Vietnam. Fake fan pages are used to target…
Does a real MSNBC report identify the suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting as "Kohl Jackson" with a picture? No, that's not true: The post is not authentic. MSNBC no longer exists; it was officially rebranded as MS NOW on Nov. 15, 2025, as part of a spin-off from NBCUniversal. Multiple news outlets identified the suspect as Cole…
Is Donald Trump closing all regional offices of the U.S. Forest Service? No, that's not true: Official terminology will change, but there will still be offices in many regions of the U.S. under the plan announced March 31, 2026. Fifteen new "State Offices", most of them in the national-lands-heavy western states, will replace the Forest Service's 1908 system of nine…
Does a video show a cyclist finding the Hidden Valley Ranch logo in real life? No, that's not true: While the clip of a man exploring a tranquil valley in Northern California is real, the logo derived from it is fake, and the landscape on Hidden Valley Ranch products does not match the valley in the video. Analysis also revealed…
Did a $100 million lawsuit filed by Gavin Newsom against Nick Shirley, Willie Nelson and a dozen other celebrities collapse after whistleblower testimony? No, that's not true: The story that California's governor filed a defamation lawsuit against a long list of people who "publicly criticized state-level financial handling" was made up by a network of foreign-run Facebook pages and websites.…
Did California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticize Nick Shirley, or did Sen. John Neely Kennedy criticize Adam Schiff, saying "Lock him up for lying to Congress, abusing power, and betraying the public trust!"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. A search of Google News…
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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