Are social media posts claiming that a long list of celebrities each "went live at 3 a.m." with an urgent message saying they had received a threat meant to silence them real? No, that's not true: None of the celebrities named in the posts made any such statement. The claims came from AI-generated Facebook posts produced by a spam operation…
Is this a real photo of Robert De Niro wearing a T-shirt that says "Obama are you coming home soon? The babysitter is weird" and flipping off the camera in front of Trump Tower? No, that's not true. De Niro's rep told Lead Stories the photo was "fake." An online detection tool rated the photo of De Niro with his…
Does a viral image show a real post by Donald Trump stating that "nobody knows God better" than him and that "nobody is loved more by God" than him? No, that's not true: The post did not match the appearance of his real posts on Truth Social. Early versions of the rumor were published with satire and meme hashtags. The…
In a real social media post, did Donald Trump write about a Joe Biden visit to Moscow in 1987 and implicate him in various conspiracy theories? No, that's not true: The supposed post does not appear on the president's official Truth Social account, and there are no reliable reports that it ever did. Biden also never visited Moscow in 1987.…
Does a real photo show President Donald Trump bowing to Chinese President Xi Jinping as they shake hands at the start of the Trump-Xi Summit in Beijing? No, that's not true: The image shows a common sign of AI generation -- unnaturally blended fingers. There are also no credible news reports documenting such a scene actually happening. The claim appeared…
Did Donald Trump post a fake photo of himself walking with an alien? Yes, that's true: The president shared the photo of him walking next to an alien on his Truth Social account on May 17, 2026. An online detection tool rated the photo of the president with the alien as AI-generated. The claim appeared in a May 17, 2026,…
Does a photo of Trump speaking at a microphone show how he looked on May 8, 2026? No, that's not true: This image has been digitally edited. The real photo, taken by a staff photojournalist for The Associated Press, shows Trump speaking at a White House Rose Garden event. The digital edit to the photo has removed most of the…
Was a viral video of a flying egg-shaped object part of the Pentagon UFO files release? No, that's not true: Lead Stories reviewed the first -- and the only available, as of this writing -- batch of the released materials and did not find the video in question there. It also did not match the visual style of other released…
Does a real video show a female military captain named Elena Carter not saluting President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The video was posted on an account that contains self-described AI videos. Details in the video also point to it being AI-generated. The claim appeared in a post made on Threads on May 14, 2026 (archived here). It included…
Does a real photo show President Donald Trump and tech CEOs Elon Musk and Jensen Huang raising their fists in front of a Chinese flag? No, that's not true: The image shows common signs of AI generation. There are no credible news reports that the three men pledged allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, nor any documentation of the fist-raising…
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