Riots

False claims about the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Jeffrey Epstein files, and purported verbal gaffes by President Trump topped the list of most-read Lead Stories fact checks in 2025. Here are our most read fact checks of the past year, reflecting our reader's interest in finding out the truth about various viral stories. If you see something suspicious in 2026,…

Did Rachel Maddow, tennis champion Coco Gauff and former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, plus dozens of other prominent Americans, post identical brave notes from a hospital bed, saying "I still have a long road ahead. But I believe in recovery -- through love, through support, and through everyone's thoughts and prayers."? No, that's not true: The stories, with identical…

Did the Donald Trump White House publish a press release offering pieces of the demolished East Wing for $500 per item at a website whose name suggested an affiliation with the U.S. president? No, that's not true: An image of the purported press release circulating on social media was full of nonsensical typos and redirected to a nonexistent website. As…

Did Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, or Turning Point USA file a $400 million lawsuit against investor and philanthropist George Soros over an alleged defamation campaign "to silence conservative voices and manipulate public perception"? No, that's not true: The claim originated from a satirical page that said explicitly that nothing it publishes is real. As of October 16, 2025, no credible…

Did the FBI have 274 plainclothes agents undercover and embedded in January 6 crowds at the US Capitol? No, that's not true: Many of 274 FBI agents documented in a report were part of the law enforcement response after the crowd stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The agents were not undercover nor were they embedded in the crowd.…

Did Meta, the owner of the Threads social media platform, announce it had begun labeling some accounts with a warning that "This user is suspected of being part of a terrorist organization called Antifa. Please report any suspicious behavior."? No, that's not true: Users add the italicized phrase themselves at the bottom of their own posts. Neither Meta nor Threads…

Did Charlie Kirk make this final video sometime before he died, "Knowing this day might come"? No, that's not true: A video posted on TikTok contains a mashup of real scenes, but the audio is fake. A specialized detection tool analyzed the audio track from this video and determined that the voice of Charlie Kirk was made with an AI…

Is an image of British Union Jack flags crowding the Mall in London during a popular uprising of patriots in late August, 2025, authentic? No, that's not true: The image shared widely across social platforms is an odd digital representation of the Mall, which runs a half mile from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. This image shows the Arc de…

Did a federal judge in June 2025 give the green light to a $350 million class-action lawsuit against Rep. Nancy Pelosi by 500 January 6th defendants? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. A search of news archives showed that the rumor was not even inadvertently accurate. The claim appeared in a…

Did a photograph shared widely in June 2025 show California's first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom shopping in Beverly Hills during anti-ICE protests and unrest in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: The photograph was actually taken in January 2025. After initially claiming the picture showed Siebel Newsom shopping on June 8, the Daily Mail updated its story and issued a…