Fema

Does a viral post correctly describe two criminal cases when it claims "three British men" were jailed longer than an "illegal migrant rapist" asylum seeker they protested against? No, that's not true: According to court records, the men were caught on video clashing with the police, and the judge made it clear that it was not protesting that brought them…

Does a real photo show Greg Bovino wearing a plaid shirt and gold hoop earring? No, that's not true: This photo has been edited. The original photo was taken by an Associated Press photographer at a news conference in Minneapolis on Jan. 20, 2026. It showed Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino with no earring, wearing an olive drab uniform shirt…

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 real news video show Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers being outrun by a viking in a wheeled bathtub, or a dancing "Techno Viking", on a Minneapolis street? No, that's not true: No real news outlet broadcast either video, which would have been newsworthy and fodder for talk shows, if real. The clip of a dancing "Techno Viking" originated from…

Does real bodycam video show a local policeman demanding that a Brinks truck driver open the cargo hold of a truck that was "a federal asset"? No, that's not true: The video is watermarked "A.I. BodyCam VIDEOS" by the page that posted it, which says in its page bio that it creates "fictional...Dramatic, scripted bodycam vids." The font of the…

Do viral posts tell a real-life story about a Connecticut woman named "Ada Morrison" who was committed to a psychiatric hospital for "excessive reading and intellectual pretensions unsuitable for woman"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories extensively researched available records but found no mention of the story outside of social media platforms. Those posts were illustrated by an AI-generated image.…

Is an archived page of a Melania Trump profile on "A Foreign Affair" mail-order bride website from 1996 real? No, that's not true: The purported page was never archived on the Wayback Machine servers, Internet Archive director Mark Graham told Lead Stories. "What you see is a doctored image," he said. An analysis done with help from the Wayback Machine's…

Did singer Charli XCX write an article titled "The Death of Cool" about God and gender roles? No, that's not true: The passage attributed to Charli XCX on social media is taken from an essay by a University of Oklahoma student about God and gender roles. The quote is taken directly from the student's assignment and does not appear in…

Did a "Josephine Boudreaux, the Black Widow of Louisiana", seduce and kill 11 Klan members in 1872? No, that's not true: This story is made up and only recently surfaced on social media. There is no historical record of this woman, and the story lacks verifying details such as names and places. There are many images purporting to show Boudreaux,…

Did comedian Trevor Noah tell Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in response to his request that a band play "Just Give Me a Reason" that he was "the reason it had to be written." No, that's not true: The story was manufactured by a spam factory in Vietnam that uses AI tools and fake Facebook fan pages to spread the…