Earthquake

Does a video show "Turkish commandos" swearing to hunt down "USA/Israel's terrorists" in December 2024? No, that's not true: Lead Stories Turkish-speaking staff confirmed that the uniformed people shown in the footage did not mention the U.S. or Israel. The video was recorded in March 2023 following an earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, and shows personnel chanting what appear to be…

Do some videos circulating online show the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck California on December 5, 2024? No, that's not true: Several videos posted online were mislabeled as showing California when they were actually filmed in other locations during past earthquakes. In reality the old footage ranged from Taiwan to Anchorage, Alaska, to Japan. One example of a recycled earthquake video…

Does an authentic video show former Minnesota high school student "Matthew Metro" alleging that Tim Walz sexually assaulted him? No, that's not true: According to multiple AI video and audio detection tools, the video circulating on social media of "Matthew Metro" was AI generated. There's no credible evidence or verified reports supporting the allegation that the Minnesota governor and Democratic…

Does a video shared on Facebook genuinely show underwater HAARP devices surrounding Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall? No, that's not true: The video shows a coral restoration project in the Florida Keys, two marine scientists told Lead Stories. The antenna-like objects seen in the video are part of that coral reef rehabilitation project. A version of the claim…

Does a video authentically show Sean "Diddy" Combs speaking from prison in 2024? No, that's not true: The video clip in this social media post is from 2010. The primary topic of the full video was the impact of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on the X platform on September 25, 2024,…

Do two reels posted to Facebook authentically show clips of tornadoes that occurred in Dubai and Canada? No, that's not true: Experts told Lead Stories that the twisters shown in the clips were fake and 100 percent AI-generated content. There are prominent elements in the videos that indicate manipulation and editing have been used to create them. One claim originated…

Was a hydrothermal explosion on July 23, 2024, at Yellowstone National Park's Biscuit Basin considered "unusual" by experts, as a post on X claimed? No, that's not true: Officials with the U.S. Geological Service said the "small hydrothermal explosion" was considered "normal." The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory and Yellowstone National Park issued a joint statement stating that monitoring data showed "no…

Does a video show authentic footage of a tornado hitting a Florida beach, or Miami, on July 7, 2024? No, that's not true: National Weather Service records did not document any such extreme weather in the entire state of Florida on July 7, 2024. The footage is a combination of digitally created clips and recycled clips from unrelated true events.…

Was boxer Ryan Garcia unusually prescient with his prediction that an earthquake would hit Los Angeles and Las Vegas on June 6, 2024? No, that's not true: There was no earthquake in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 6, 2024. And there are earthquakes almost daily in and around Los Angeles, according to publicly available records. While minor quakes did occur…

Can the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, or EISCAT Scientific Association, use its technologies for mind control, as a video on social media claims? No, that's not true: EISCAT Scientific Association Director Axel Steuwer told Lead Stories that there is "absolutely no mind control possible" with the program's systems, which primarily measure physical elements of the upper atmosphere using the…