Iran

Did Eminem, Kid Rock, Chris Stapleton, Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift or other celebrities stand for photos of themselves and supporters opening "America's first 100% free community health center"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning more than 40 celebrities in near-identical photos were published by a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. There were no legitimate news articles…

Does a viral video show missiles raining down from the clouds on Caracas, Venezuela on January 3, 2026? No, that's not true: A viral video making the rounds does not show the actual attacks that took place on that date. It is an old video from 2025 that was described at the time as missiles from Iran impacting Tel Aviv.…

Does a video show Iran's crown prince-in-exile Reza Pahlavi being cheered in Cairo, Egypt, as protests in Iran intensified in January 2026? No, that's not true: The video shows Pahlavi being cheered in Oxford, England in February 2023. A news report from that day said thousands of Iranians living in the United Kingdom converged on Oxford to show their support…

Were Novak Djokovic, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Dolly Parton and dozens of other celebrities each honored with a full-body bronze statue on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? No, that's not true: The exact same story, usually just altered by changing the name of the celebrity, appeared on dozens of sites and Facebook pages run from Vietnam. There were no real news…

Does Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in music for 2025 include Tom Jones, Jelly Roll, Willie Nelson, Pink, Jimmy Page, Johnny Mathis, Mick Jagger, or anyone? No, that's not true: There is no such TIME Magazine list. While musicians are sometimes included in the publication's annual list of most influential people, there is no specific list of 100 musicians.…

Did Phil Collins "send the internet into orbit" when he announced the 32 dates of his 2026 World Tour? No, that's not true: Phil Collins has not announced a 2026 world tour. His name, and those of many other artists such as Trace Adkins, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Pink, and Lenny Kravitz, are being used in a clickbait formula gaming…

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…

Do leaked CCTV videos really show Israeli missiles striking Iranian missile bases? No, that's not true: Several clips in a viral video with that description contain several glitches typical of AI generated footage. It was published by an account that has posted AI-generated imagery in the past. One of the clips did originate with an Iranian TV station. The video…

Did prominent Americans like Elon Musk, Caitlin Clark, Stephen Colbert, and Joy Behar each pay down $667,000 of schoolkids' lunchroom debts? No, there's no evidence that's true: In the case of FBI Director Kash Patel, the gift was inflated to $979,000, which would be more than five times his FBI salary.The posts making the claims include no evidence by which…

Does a real video show a body-armor-wearing riot policeman smiling as he pepper-sprays a woman confronting him at a protest? No, that's not true: The video is labeled "Sora" with watermarks indicating it was created using OpenAI's text-to-video app. It originated on an account devoted to improbable wild animal videos, also labeled as Sora productions. Sora creates fake but "hyperreal"…