Does the new Trump-Kennedy sign at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have gold appliques like President Donald Trump added to the walls of the Oval Office? No, that's not true: Though Trump's name was added, there were no news reports that gold ornaments were added to the facade of the Kennedy Center. Photos taken by Lead Stories on…
Did the White House confirm "Trump's impromptu visit to Walter Reed hospital" to receive "Dementia test of the year" award? No, that's not true: The story originated from a website that says it publishes satire content. The White House website said nothing about it. The claim first appeared in an article (archived here) published on December 19, 2025, by the…
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 a boy scout named Eric Langford disappear in the Airondirac forests of New York State in 1989 and did he mysteriously return in 2001? No, that's not true: The fictional tale about a kidnapping appeared on a YouTube channel that published fake stories about mysterious disappearances in the past. Several details in the story don't match up with reality…
Did Patti Labelle, Novak Djokovic, Cardi B, James Hetfield, Morgan Wallen or a long list of other celebrities just open "America's first 100% free homeless hospital" because they wanted to leave a legacy behind? No, that's not true: Viral posts on Facebook were the latest variations of the same made-up story being spread by foreign clickbait accounts mostly run from…
Did Donald Trump announce that people who had cosmetic surgeries would no longer be eligible for any form of government assistance starting in March 2026? No, that's not true:There were no news stories about any such announcement from Trump, despite claims in a viral video. Neither the White House nor Trump's social media accounts showed anything looking like such an…
Is "Tech world on fire" over news that Elon Musk bought Facebook in order to "delete it"? No, that's not true: Meta (which owns Facebook) had not, as of this writing, announced or documented a sale, as is required of publicly traded companies. Lead Stories found no credible news reports of an impending sale to Musk. The site that generated…
Did "an entire unnamed mountain" collapse into itself near Casper, Wyoming at the end of 2025 and were emergency crews from several states mobilizing? No, that's not true: A viral post and image making that claim originated on a satirical Facebook page. Earlier there was a (much smaller) collapse in Wyoming's Teton mountains but that happened over 250 miles from…
When I received an invitation last month to come to Macedonia to talk with the fact checkers and journalists at the Metamorphosis Foundation about Lead Stories' experience with our automatically generated short-form fact checking videos, I didn't hesitate for a moment. Ever since 2019 when I wrote about a network of Macedonian fake news websites operating out of the town…
Did Netflix announce it is releasing a documentary about the life of former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg titled "Pete: A Spectacular Life"? No, that's not true: Neither the company nor media organizations said anything about that. The website that spread the claim appeared to be connected to an overseas network that capitalizes on people's engagement provoked by fake…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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