Is an image of a Walmart clearance sale on all Trump Merchandise for 99 cents in November 2025 real? No, that's not true: The photo includes a Gemini watermark in the lower-right corner, indicating it was created with Google's generative AI app. There are several misspellings on the merchandise that confirm it is fake, including a red MAGA hat that…
Did the mother of Christopher Todd Erick discover the body of her deceased son, plastinated and on display in a Real Bodies exhibit in Las Vegas? No, that's not true: The bodies on display in the exhibit originated in China. According to Imagine Exhibitions, owners of the Real Bodies exhibit, the specimen in question has been on continuous display in…
Does an often reposted viral video show a timelapse of "16 hours of spinal cord development" in a human embryo? No, that's not true: The video actually shows the development of the nervous system of a zebrafish as recorded by researchers from Wisconsin. The video is often reposted without that bit of information omitted, leading many people online to believe…
Did the New York Stock Exchange react to Zohran Mamdani's victory in the mayoral election by relocating to Texas from its 230-year base on New York City's Wall Street? No, that's not true: Intercontinental Exchange, the company that owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange, announced in February, when polls showed Mamdani with a single-digit pool of support, that…
Does a viral video document that TSA employees stopped screening passengers at U.S. airports as a result of the October 2025 government shutdown? No, that's not true: The clip was generated by AI, and the video's early versions included a watermark disclosing that fact. Additionally, the agency's seal on the uniform of the supposed TSA agent -- which is one…
Did U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "rebrand" itself to be publicly known as Homeland Security Investigators, not ICE? No, that's not true: ICE still exists under the same old name. "Homeland Security Investigators" discussed in social media posts is not a brand-new entity -- it has operated since 2010 as one of the major divisions within ICE, but the correct…
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…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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