Technology

Was Fox News host Brett Baier correct when he declared Chicago has "the highest murder rate of all the big cities" during an interview with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker? Yes, if you compare US cities with official populations over 1 million. Pritzker asserted Chicago ranks below 30th, but did not provide a citation for that number. Lead Stories found that…

Did Snapchat management issue a warning to all users that there had been an update to the terms of use requiring users to forward a warning message to twenty people in two hours or their account would be deleted? No, that's not true: The viral copy-paste hoax is not real and should not be passed along. There was, at the…

Does evidence support a claim that Charlie Kirk murder investigators "confirmed" they found a bullet in Kirk's body and a second bullet at the scene of the shooting? No, that's not true: Investigators have made no such public disclosures ahead of the October 30, 2025 hearing scheduled in the case. The claim was published and promoted by a clickbait website…

Did a woman arrive from Tokyo, Japan, at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City with a passport of a nonexistent country named "Torenza", as viral videos and text posts claim? No, that's not true: The viral videos reused old footage. It came from a TV show about airline workers that aired on cable in the U.S. in the…

Did a man with a T-shirt cannon fire a prize directly at an elderly woman seated in the stands, knocking her over? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. It was created for a satirical Facebook page, Weaber Valley Speedway, which publishes fake updates and event footage as if they are a real small town racetrack. The fake video…

Does a video show a self-driving Waymo car erratically driving on a golf course? Yes, but that is missing context: The Waymo car, equipped with self-driving technology, was nonetheless being operated by a human driver according to a statement Waymo released about the footage. They said the human-driven car was preparing for an event at the golf course. The claim…

Is a video of a cat guarding an eagle's nest to keep a snake from eating the eggs authentic? No, that's not true: The video was made by artificial intelligence tools. One telltale sign is the snake's two tails seen in the first four seconds. Also, the structure of the nest and the branches of the tree change significantly from…

Did Finland test "the world's first engine-less superconducting maglev cargo pipeline, capable of moving cargo at over 500 km/h using no engines, wheels or tracks", as a social media post claimed? No, that's not true: As of August 28, 2025, no media organizations reported on the purported test in Oulu, Finland. The organization that was described as having developed the…

Did Walmart fire an executive who was taking $30,000 daily in kickbacks from an Indian staffing agency in an H-1B visa scandal? No, that's not true: Walmart denied the reason they fired anyone had to do with H-1B visas or a kickback scandal. The outlet that amplified the news posted a disclaimer saying they had not received verification from Walmart…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy react to his August 2025 meeting at the White House by suggesting that Donald Trump rejects a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, believing it would hurt his chances of winning the Nobel Peace Prize? No, that's not true: Official government webpages of the Ukrainian president don't contain such a statement. Lead Stories could not find…