Migrants

Does a real video show a crowd who just crossed the English Channel and a man who thinks he's entitled to money and a free house from the "England Government"? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. The image-to-video scene was made using a real newspaper photo as a source frame. The photo originally appeared in a 2015 New…

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…

Did Rep. Ilhan Omar incorrectly say "World War Eleven" instead of "World War II" without correcting herself? No, that's not true: Omar did misspeak saying "World War Eleven" in January 2025 but the part where she corrected herself was cut off in a clip of the incident that went viral. In the original video she immediately corrected herself, substituting "Two"…

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…

Did Barbra Streisand, British politician Nigel Farage and Kevin Costner each say "Our country would be safer without Somali immigrants -- starting with Ilhan Omar!"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories featuring those and other famous people were published by a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. There were no news articles about such an event and the…

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 the man charged with planting pipe bombs found near the Republican and Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, sue the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security over illegal immigration? No, that's not true: Legal disputes referenced in a Daily Wire article making that claim confused suspect Brian Cole Jr. with his father Brian Cole Sr. It…

Did a "new" viral video posted Nov. 18, 2025 show "In Germany, large crowds of Muslims walk directly through a Christmas market chanting 'There is no God but Allah , Allah Akbar'"? No, that's not true: No chants of "Allah Akbar" (God is Great) can be heard on the clip's audio. The video was not new, either, having been on…

Does a viral video show Muslims protesting against a Christmas fair in Germany? No, that's not true: The video has circulated since October, 12, 2024, showing a demonstration in Hamburg, Germany, against Israel and in solidarity with Palestinians. The time stamp on the 2024 posts puts the march a full month before Germany's traditional Christmas markets begin, according to tour…

Does a video show illegal immigrants in the UK stealing from the dead by taking things from graves to sell? No, that's not true: The video was first posted by a TikTok account from Ukraine, on April 27, the day the Ukrainian and Eastern Orthodox Churches observe "Thomas Sunday" or "Provody." The specific observance of the tradition varies by region,…