Has Preston Kennedy, the 43-year-old son of Senator John Nealy Kennedy of Louisiana, been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer? No, that's not true: Sen. Kennedy's son is 29, not 43. He was born six years after his parents' 1990 marriage. There are no reports of a cancer diagnosis on Kennedy's social media timelines or in the news media. The…
Did reports about conservative influencer Laura Loomer being pregnant with the child of Malaysian influencer Ian Miles Cheong originate on actual news websites? No, that's not true: The rumor appeared on an X account clearly marked as "Parody". There were no actual news reports about such a pregnancy. The "reports" were mentioned in a post on X (archived here) published…
Did Barron Trump announce a 2028 run for U.S. Senate at an event that "broke Washington in half"? No, that's not true: Barron Trump would still be too young to qualify for service in the U.S. Senate in 2028. A viral Facebook post contained verifiably false details about a viral hashtag and there being actual news reports about such an…
Did a Marcus Holloway serve twenty years in prison for a murder he didn't commit when his wife Sarah was finally discovered alive after being held captive by a Chicago neighbor all those years? No, that's not true: There is no record of a real crime in Chicago matching these details. The fake story appeared across social media published by…
Did a "retired sergeant" in Texas say that Muslims have set up a command center with weapons, armored vehicles and a training facility - on top of Muslim-only communities and Sharia courts? No, that's not true: A social media post has misrepresented what a retired training sergeant for the Plano, Texas, police department said during a Collin County Commissioner's Court…
Does a viral video include real courthouse footage covering a $3 million lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died from electrocution while trying to steal "electric copper wire" from a vehicle charging station? No, that's not true: The shot purporting to show "Darius Johnson's" family was real, but was taken from the coverage of an unrelated case.…
Did two U.S. senators and four representatives urge American soldiers and intelligence officers to disobey legal orders from their commanders and is their advice seditious and traitorous behavior? No, that's not true: Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, and Representatives Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan recorded a video with the message that American military members "must…
Did Oprah Winfrey give $1 million to the Chicago mom who was attacked by a group of kids? No, that's not true: The mom who was brutally assaulted on video has not posted anything about Winfrey giving her $1 million on her social media account. Her official GoFundMe has only $28,000 as of publication date. There are no legitimate news…
Does a viral clip really show an oxygen tank and a patient on a gurney being sucked from a hallway straight into the bore of an MRI machine? No, that's not true: It's clearly labelled as having been created by Sora, the OpenAI-owned text-to-video tool. The video includes multiple glaring departures from reality: A marked exit door would not lead…
Has South Korea placed vending machines with free hot food near schools to fight childhood hunger? No, that's not true: There were no actual news articles about any such "food vending machines" seen in viral images on social media. South Korea does offer free lunches to all schoolchildren, but they include a variety of items cooked and served in school…
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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