X Platform

Did real news video show Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers being outrun by a viking in a wheeled bathtub, or a dancing "Techno Viking", on a Minneapolis street? No, that's not true: No real news outlet broadcast either video, which would have been newsworthy and fodder for talk shows, if real. The clip of a dancing "Techno Viking" originated from…

Did Donald Trump tell Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that he wants complete and total control of Greenland because he was not granted the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes, that's true: Some questioned if the text message from Trump to Norway's Prime Minister published on X by PBS correspondent Nick Schifrin was real. Norway's Prime Minister published a statement on…

Did a guest in a clip from French TV channel LCI say Ukraine sent false strategic info to US intelligence services which they then observed Russian forces acting upon? No, that's not true: The video clip with guest Vincent Crouzet was about mounting distrust between Ukrainian and American intelligence services and the increased importance of intelligence coming from France and…

Were 20 percent of Oregon voters revealed to be "fake" after the secretary of state announced they were going to clean 800,000 names from voter rolls? No, that's not true: The removal of 800,000 inactive registered voters is part of routine voter roll maintenance required by state law. The 800,000 are not part of the 3 million active registered voters…

Is this viral image a real photo of a woman in a pink shirt carrying black-and-white bags standing in front of three black SUVs marked 'ICE' while holding up a phone? No, that's not true: The image is a digital edit made to resemble a famous historical picture known as "Tank Man". That picture showed a man carrying shopping bags…

Was there an Antifa sticker and another one claiming "transgender surgeries performed in this car" on the Honda Pilot Renee Good was driving when she was shot and killed on a Minneapolis street by an ICE agent? No, that's not true: The image of a cluster of car stickers is labeled as AI-generated. The TikTok account that first used the…

Does a viral post accurately summarize Zohran Mamdani's words from a podcast recorded more than five years before he was sworn in as New York City mayor? No, that's not true: The quote was shortened, and it changed its meaning. A longer, more elaborate fragment of his speech shows that he suggested that it shouldn't be the police, but specially…

Do viral posts tell a real-life story about a Connecticut woman named "Ada Morrison" who was committed to a psychiatric hospital for "excessive reading and intellectual pretensions unsuitable for woman"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories extensively researched available records but found no mention of the story outside of social media platforms. Those posts were illustrated by an AI-generated image.…

Does a viral Craigslist post prove that owners of a Minnesota daycare accused of fraud attempted to hire child actors to imitate legitimate operations? No, that's lacking enough evidence to prove it's true: Anyone could have published an anonymous post on Craigslist. The scenario - a day care center spending $90,000 on actors, doesn't appear to be likely due to…

False claims about the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Jeffrey Epstein files, and purported verbal gaffes by President Trump topped the list of most-read Lead Stories fact checks in 2025. Here are our most read fact checks of the past year, reflecting our reader's interest in finding out the truth about various viral stories. If you see something suspicious in 2026,…