Ufo

Did the BBC report that Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska was spotted wearing a pendant stolen from France's Lalique Museum? No, that's not true: The BBC denied ever publishing such a report. The video was doctored to digitally add the jewelry item to Zelenska's neck. The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published on X by @its_The_Dr…

Did a caption accompanying a viral image correctly claim it showed FIFA President Gianni Infantino making a phone call after Egypt took a 2-0 lead over Argentina? No, that's not true: Infantino did not attend this World Cup game in Atlanta on July 7, 2026. Instead, he was at the Switzerland-Colombia match, held in Vancouver a few hours later on…

Does a video show how multiple laser beams scanned the ground in the instant before the Venezuela earthquakes struck? No, that's not true: One clip in the video was published on TikTok on March 18, 2026, months before earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, 2026. The video had already circulated widely with a caption calling it a "converging beam event"…

Is a mugshot real showing a Texas woman arrested for disguising herself as a man to win an "All-Male BBQ Competition"? No, that's not true: The post originated on a self-described satire site. The original post was labeled satire and comedy. There were no news reports of a woman winning a barbecue contest disguised as a man and getting arrested.…

Is a video that shows Joe Rogan saying he is considering refusing to commentate the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight at the White House legitimate? No, that's not true: The video was labeled "Contains AI-generated media." Rogan did criticize the event on his podcast, saying he does not like the idea of fighting outside, but he did not say he…

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,…

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…

Is a memo about an "unidentified humanoid" a real Department of War document released with other "UFO files" in May 2026? No, that's not true: The document does not appear in the publicly available UFO files released by the Trump administration or the Department of War as of the time of publication. A search for "1994" in the files, the…

Was this viral image of a star-shaped UFO released by the Department of War in the UFO Files? No, that's not true: The UFO files released by the Trump administration do not include a color photo of a star-shaped UFO that appears to be hovering over water. The image was previously published on the internet on April 9, 2026, a…

Is a viral video that shows "never-before-seen" footage of an unidentified object moving in the sky near a helicopter flying, included in the UFO Files that were released by the Trump administration and the Department of War? No, that's not true: The black and white video does not appear in the publicly available UFO files released by the Trump administration…