Death Hoax

Does a video shared on X document lab-grown meat moving autonomously? No, that's not true: The video in question was made by a content creator who produces videos containing sculptures of food items that move as if they are alive. Lab-grown meat is not created in a way that would allow it to move autonomously. Sarcastic captions on the video…

Did 17,327 dead people vote in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election? No, that's not true: The Michigan Office of the Auditor General released an audit in March 2022 that found 1,616 votes cast by electors who died prior to election day in the 2020 general election were tallied. No voter fraud was determined to have occurred by the audit,…

Does data pulled from the Adverse Event Reporting System and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System prove that COVID-19 vaccines have caused more than 1.4 million adverse events and over 32,000 deaths as of November 25, 2022? No, that's not true: The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, known as VAERS, is a government database of negative health reactions to vaccines…

Did a "survey" find that COVID-19 vaccines "killed 3.5X more Americans than COVID virus"? No, that's not true: A medical professional who treats patients of long COVID told Lead Stories that the so-called survey "lacked scientific rigor" and could not be extrapolated to the broader public -- it was not scientifically sound and included methodological flaws. The claim originated in…

Did CNN air footage of a Palestinian crisis actor wrapped in a white shroud pretending to be a corpse who moved their head instead of staying perfectly still? No, that's not true: The CNN footage shows the body of a dead person wrapped in a shroud that was gathered and tied at their head. When a man adjusted the shroud,…

Is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "required to take the COVID vaccines off the market" as of October 21, 2023? No, that's not true: COVID-19 vaccines are not being taken off the market by the FDA as of this writing. All vaccines that were available in October 2023 had a reassuring safety profile, and health experts point to statistics…

Does Canadian government data show that people double-vaccinated for COVID-19 have lost 74% of their "immune system capability," and that those who are triple-vaccinated have lost 73%? No, that's not true: The Public Health Agency of Canada told Lead Stories, "These claims are false." Additionally, there is no publicly available credible Canadian government data or scientific evidence to support such…

Did the Canadian government "admit" that 74 percent of people who are triple-vaccinated for COVID-19 now have "vaccine acquired immune deficiency syndrome"? No, that's not true: The Public Health Agency of Canada told Lead Stories an article making that claim is "false." Also, there is no credible information or reports suggesting that those who have been vaccinated for COVID-19 three…

Did Dr. Peter McCullough, an American cardiologist who has repeatedly made anti-COVID-19 vaccine statements, successfully discredit the World Health Organization (WHO) and the global health community's approach to COVID-19 treatment during a speech in Strasbourg, France, on September 13, 2023? No, that's not true: McCullough bases his claims on rejected scientific papers with methodological flaws and long-debunked assertions. The physician…

Did a homophobic man from Florida shoot his male doctor twice in the chest because he had an orgasm during a prostate exam? No, that's not true: This 'Florida man' article is fictional and was published by the now-defunct fake news and satire website Bok Daily on September 7, 2020. The images of the two men included in the original…