Time Magazine Cover

Does a viral image show a real journalistic article saying that Melania Trump used to work as a recreational drug seller at a New York City gay bar in the 1990s? No, that's not true: The writers named in the shared byline did not work together in 2021, the year the article claims to have been published. Lead Stories found…

Does a viral image of world leaders showing their middle fingers as an act of apparent disagreement with U.S. President Donald Trump show a real 2026 TIME Magazine cover? No, that's not true: The magazine's website did not contain such a cover. The image displayed shows signs strongly pointing to generative AI. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Does a real photo show Melania Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell posing with three young women whose faces have been redacted? No, that's not true: This fake photo was made to look like a Polaroid photo from 1998. The high resolution fake image was featured as a clickbait thumbnail for a YouTube video, with black redactions as if it originated from…

Does Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in music for 2025 include Tom Jones, Jelly Roll, Willie Nelson, Pink, Jimmy Page, Johnny Mathis, Mick Jagger, or anyone? No, that's not true: There is no such TIME Magazine list. While musicians are sometimes included in the publication's annual list of most influential people, there is no specific list of 100 musicians.…

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…

Did Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Miranda Lambert, Vince Gill, Derek Hough, Brandon Lake, Cliff Richard, athletes Dak Prescott and Lamar Jackson and other celebrities ask for their footage to be removed from Netflix over LGBTQ content? No, that's not true: There are multiple social media posts showing different celebrities and athletes with a message that they told Netflix…

Does a viral image authentically show "Richard Miller" surrounded by "nine Black girls that nobody wanted" 46 years after he adopted them? No, that's not true: According to three AI detectors and Lead Stories' manual review of the picture, it's highly likely to be a product of generative AI. Lead Stories found no reports by credible media organizations confirming the…

Is there an authentic photo showing the White House lawn partially covered by a large banner that features the images of President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein? No, that's not true: The banner is real and was displayed on the Long Walk at Windsor Castle on September 15, 2025, but not on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C. A…

Has Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, become "one of the wealthiest women in America," during her tenure in the United States Senate, as a social media post claims? No, that's not true: Financial disclosure reports show that with a net family worth of at most $2.5 million, she's not even among the wealthiest women in Congress, let alone in America. Magazines and…

Does a viral video of flood scenes include real clips of the 2025 Independence Day Weekend flooding in Kerr County, Texas? No, that's not true: The opening scene is an obvious product of generative AI. None of the clips in the montage can be traced to authentic filming of the Texas flood. The clips include news coverage of floods that…