Is there a controversial game called Plantation Simulator available to buy on Steam, where players motivate Black workers by whipping them? Yes, that's true: Plantation Simulator was released on Steam on May 12, 2026. The developer describes the game's content this way: "In this game, you will be whipping black people to keep your farm productive, If you whip your…
Did police find a male prostitute dead in the Indiana home of Mike Pence? No, that's not true: There is no news reporting of an incident such as this. This false news story originated from a Facebook page that lists its category as "comedian". The story has spread to other social media platforms without the comedy disclaimer. The story originated…
Did Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and chairman of Block, join the AI company Anthropic? No, that's not true: There have been no news announcements that Dorsey has joined Anthropic. After the true announcement that Andrej Karpathy, the co-founder of OpenAI, was joining Anthropic, a trend of copycat joke announcements popped up on social media. Among the copycat posts…
Is the story of a Memphis man arrested for scratching off every scratch-off ticket at a Germantown Exxon station real? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find any records corroborating the tale, which originated on social media platforms. Two AI detection tools concluded the text was AI-generated. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by @Soaringeagle45…
Did a data center cause a power outage at Six Flags Over Texas in May 2026? No, that's not true: A representative for Six Flags said a construction crew struck an underground power line, causing the outage. There's no evidence that any of the major regional data centers in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area had anything to do with the…
Are social media posts claiming celebrities "went live at 3 a.m." with a message saying they 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 managed from Vietnam. Among the false posts Lead…
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…
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…
Does a video show a real encounter with a strange woman in the woods who asked hikers, "Did you see my other two guys?" No, that's not true: This video is a small clip from a long-format skit published by a paranormal YouTube channel in September 2023. The channel features mysterious adventures guided by an exploring app called Randonautica. Many…
Does a video show a real attacker threatening Michael Jackson with a rifle on stage? No, that's not true: The footage shows a staged theatrical moment from Jackson's 1996-1997 HIStory World Tour. The scene took place during "Earth Song," which explored themes of environmental destruction and human conflict. The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) by the…
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