Technology

Is there a real image of "0-1" spray-painted under a Department of War plaque? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that graffiti was ever painted beneath the sign, which is located at the Pentagon. Image searches frequently returned a very similar image featuring the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. The claim appeared in a post made on X…

Did Donald Trump's Truth Social account really make a post about an API service being unavailable, implying that AI writes his posts? No, that's not true: The supposed post does not appear on the president's official Truth Social account, and there are no reliable reports that it ever did. The fake post was edited to look like the real thing,…

Did Middle East Eye publish a video report saying that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to let Ukraine set up drone manufacturing plants in Armenia? No, that's not true: No such report appeared on the media outlet's website. It could not be found on their social media accounts either. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on…

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 Israeli-based news outlet Haaretz report that Zelenskyy's former associate Timur Mindich fled to Israel carrying "800kg of gold" on a private jet? No, that's not true: The claim shared in viral posts originated from a counterfeit website that mimicked Haaretz. No credible news organizations reported on "800kg of gold" supposedly carried by Mindich on board the plane bound for…

Did OpenAI announce plans to let users "securely connect" ChatGPT to their DNA to modify specific parts of their body? No, that's not true: This fake announcement came from a parody account. A disclaimer in its bio states: "These are fake stories." There is no announcement from OpenAI about technology such as this. The false announcement appeared in a post…

Does a real video show an enormous whale breaching near the deck of a ship, swamping the crew with a giant wave? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated and contains unrealistic glitches in the whale's anatomy, notably the area of ventral grooves on the whale's throat. The detection tool at Hive Moderation determined with 99.9% confidence that the…

Did the U.S. Supreme Court issue a 7-2 ruling that abolishes income tax under case number 24-1791? No, that's not true: A docket search on the website of the Supreme Court of the United States found no case under that number. All Supreme Court rulings, also known as opinions, are public records. While portions of a case record may be…

Does a viral video on YouTube discuss a real-life scandal involving BBC host "James Whitmore" mocking Filipino Doctor "Elena Reyes" for her accent? No, that's not true: The story was made up by AI. Multiple online tools detected AI across different elements of the story, and the BBC website showed no record of either the host or the guest. The…

Does a viral video show high-resolution "unedited raw security footage" of the suspected shooter running through a checkpoint at the 2026 White House Correspondents' dinner? No, that's not true: The video was enhanced with AI, and, in the process, the technology altered the details. The clip showed glitches typical of AI-generated content, and the account that first published it confirmed…