Is a five-year-old Minnesota boy's father a "criminal illegal alien" who abandoned him in a running car at their home, running away when confronted by Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers? Here's what we know so far: School officials who were at the scene Jan. 20, 2026 when the boy and his father were taken into custody say that's not true.…
Was Nekima Levy Armstrong visibly crying in anguish in a Department of Homeland Security photo of her arrest by the FBI for her role in a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota? No, that's not true: The photo of Armstrong's arrest posted by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem showed Armstrong's face as composed and expressionless. About one half hour…
Did your favorite sports star "shock fans" or "shake" the league by "publicly" or "flatly" refusing to wear an LGBT Rainbow Armband because it would turn the game "into a political circus"? No, that's not true: The claim was made about at least 95 football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and hockey players in posts published on dozens of fake Facebook fan…
Does a viral video show NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte excitedly saying "I just got viral! Yaaay! Because my good friend Donald J. Trump, he re-posted, he re-tweeted a message from me ... " ? No, that's not true: The man in the video is Dutch comedian Remko Vrijdag. Vrijdag's Instagram account shows him playing numerous roles including, from time…
Is a video showing an ICE agent entering a classroom at California State University, San Bernardino, legitimate? No, that's not true: The clip was generated using AI. A Sora watermark appears several times, indicating it was created with the generative AI tool. There are no credible news reports that an ICE agent entered a California university classroom as part of…
Have Rowan Atkinson and Mia Khalifa reportedly been dating since summer? No, that's not true: This story is clickbait -- there are no reports from credible sources that the two celebrities are dating. Khalifa has denied the rumor on social media, posting, "guys I am dating a fool but it's not mr bean". The false rumor appears in a post…
Did TV host Johnny Carson comfort dying woman Barbara Martinez while taping the March 17, 1983, episode of NBC's Tonight Show? No, that's not true: Social media posts about it did not include the actual recording of the purported event, sharing an AI-generated image instead. Lead Stories found no credible sources ever mentioning the supposed dance, and the Library of…
Was Enoch Burke arrested again in 2026 for refusing to use "they" pronoun for a student? No, that's not true: Burke was arrested outside Wilson's Hospital School in Multyfarnham, Ireland on Jan. 19, 2026 for again violating a court order that he stay away from the school. Irish newspapers operating independently of one another reported that the High Court which…
Does a video show a real scuffle in front of a Grand Central Market between a Cherokee woman and an ICE Agent? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated and was recaptioned for additional ragebaiting effect. It is one of a series of AI-generated videos made with the same, or nearly identical prompts that show a similar clash in…
Did Travis Kelce, Jelly Roll, Bruce Springsteen, Caitlin Clark and a 12 other celebrities say that President Trump was "a vicious old bastard draining America's soul after the Born-in-America Act"? No, that's not true: The claim that at least 17 different sports stars and entertainers made that identical statement was made up by a Vietnamese-based spam factory that uses artificial…
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