Did a video supposedly showing Iranians pumping air into an inflatable building to trick Americans into wasting ammunition originate from a serious news source? No, that's not true: The video, which had several glitches typical of AI-generated content, was published by an account that labels itself parody. In the first few frames the building appears to be deflating instead of…
Did Kevin Costner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jared Goff, or any celebrities donate millions of dollars to support the funeral arrangements for four of the six U.S. servicemembers killed in a drone strike in Kuwait? No, that's not true: The false claim that at least 37 sports and entertainment celebs made such donations began spreading in Facebook posts hours after the…
Did Barron Trump buy $30 million in oil two days before the war in Iran started? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Barron made such a purchase two days before President Donald Trump launched the U.S. attack on Iran. No credible news outlets have reported that the president's youngest son bought oil, and no sources were cited…
Does a real video show a young boy crying out for his daddy when he saw the flag-draped casket on the tarmac? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. It originated from a Facebook page which has posted reels of exclusively AI-generated videos showing highly emotional scenes. The videos published by the page are posted in groups of three,…
Did Dennis Rodman fly to Tehran to negotiate peace, and did Iran agree to a meeting? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool rated the image as 100% likely to be AI-generated, and a separate analysis detected a SynthID watermark indicating it was created or modified by Google's AI models. The information originated on a Facebook page…
Does a video show a real American B-2 bomber after being shot down and being paraded through the streets in Iran? No, that's not true: An online AI images detection tool flagged the video as 100% likely to be AI-generated. A separate analysis found several hallmarks of AI-generated or digitally simulated content, including an aircraft whose scale does not match…
Does a post about Mark Zuckerberg's supposed subpoena accurately reflect recent reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein front company, Butterfly Foundation, named in the Tehran files? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no news articles about the supposed subpoena or mentioning the statement "Mr. Zuckerberg will cooperate fully" the post said his lawyers released. The "Butterfly Foundation" is not named…
Do the Epstein files reveal that "cannibal" Ellen DeGeneres ate Anne Heche after murdering her? No, that's not true: The only mention of Heche in the Department of Justice (DOJ) Epstein files is from a newspaper headline in the sidebar of another article. There is nothing in the Epstein files suggesting DeGeneres murdered Heche or cannibalized her body. Heche died…
Does a video show a real fire on board a U.S. destroyer or aircraft carrier? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool rated the image as 100% likely to be AI-generated. A separate analysis found it has several hallmarks of AI-generated or digitally simulated content, such as unusually uniform smoke and fire, distorted aircraft shapes, unrealistic water-heat…
Does a video show an American destroyer that was damaged by Iranian missiles in Cypriot territory in the Mediterranean? No, that's not true: This footage is from 2017 and the damage pictured is not from a missile attack. The video clip shows the USS Fitzgerald, which was damaged when it collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan.…
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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