Deep State

Do viral screenshots of a Wikipedia article about French soccer referee François Letexier confirm that he is Jewish? No, that's not true: The edits made after the 2026 Egypt-Argentina FIFA World Cup game didn't link to credible sources stating that. Lead Stories found no publicly available information suggesting that Letexier grew up in an "Orthodox Jewish family." The claim appeared…

Did people born outside France or French territories set the Saint-Michel Basilica in Bordeaux on fire in July 2026? No, that's not true: The City of Bordeaux denied that when contacted by Lead Stories. The fire occurred near the church and caused no damage to it. The claim appeared in a post (archived here, here and here) published on X…

Have you seen viral videos showing large cruise ship disasters with the boats sinking dramatically into the water? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos recently and found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. The videos have similar looking cruise ships sinking with various crowds watching as the ships go down. Some of these accounts…

Have you seen viral videos showing older veterans being disrespected or bullied by authority figures? Lead Stories has spotted several such videos recently and found that many were created using artificial intelligence. These videos do not show real people or situations. Instead they seek to exploit feelings of sympathy and patriotism by triggering emotions such as indignation and anger among…

Have you seen viral videos showing timelapse construction of secret bunkers, underground rooms or hidden lairs out of wild materials and objects that would give the builders a safe place to hide to survive a catastrophic event? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos recently and has found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. They…

Did American soccer player Folarin Balogun unveil an image of late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk under his t-shirt during the USA-Paraguay World Cup match on June 12, 2026? No, that's not true: The viral image was digitally manipulated. Neither the real footage of the game nor media coverage confirm that such an episode ever took place during that match. The…

Does a real Fox Sports graphic from the Mexico-South Africa game during the 2026 FIFA World Cup include a long explanation of what it means to be "down to 9 players"? No, that's not true: Video from the match does not include such a graphic. At that point in the game, the yellow on-screen graphic simply read "Down to 9…

Did Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit publish an open letter calling on FIFA President Gianni Infantino to resign amid growing controversy surrounding U.S. immigration policies? No, that's not true: The claim appeared in social media posts and news articles just a day before the start of the World Cup. Gullit posted a denial on his X account, saying he wanted…

Is the quote attributed to an unidentified Muslim man that says, "Christians, you're no longer allowed to say Merry Christmas, it's offensive to Muslims" real? No, that's not true: An AI detection tool concluded that a video of the man saying Christians are no longer allowed to say Merry Christmas because it is offensive to Muslims likely contained AI-generated content.…

Did the Armenian Mirror-Spectator actually publish a report saying that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to resettle 250,000 refugees who are currently in EU countries? No, that's not true: Neither this news outlet nor any other journalistic publication produced such a report. Lead Stories found no traces of the alleged agreement. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published…