Virus

Did a Marcus Holloway serve twenty years in prison for a murder he didn't commit when his wife Sarah was finally discovered alive after being held captive by a Chicago neighbor all those years? No, that's not true: There is no record of a real crime in Chicago matching these details. The fake story appeared across social media published by…

Did Evelyn Duval, the wife of a Louisiana plantation owner, elope with a runaway slave in 1847? No, that's not true: This story is full of precise details, which lend an air of authenticity - but the details do not match up with historic sources. Both the image of the couple and the story spontaneously surfaced on social media in…

Did Stephen Colbert announce he was opening a $10 million "paradise" for dogs and cats? No, that's not true: The story is completely made up. There is no evidence that Colbert has said that he will be spending $10 million to open a care center for stray pets. The article about the announcement is copy/paste clickbait and appears to generate…

Did Metallica's frontman James Hetfield publicly suggest that the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was the result of "a dark plan"? No, that's not true: No credible media outlets reported that. The musician didn't write that on social media, either, because he is not on such platforms. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook, where it…

Is there a video of Charlie Kirk's father collapsing in grief at a memorial set up outside the Turning Point USA headquarters? No, that's not true: The promise of a video of Kirk's Father collapsing is a clickbait ploy. There is no video at the link provided in the Facebook post from a page operating from Vietnam. The photo included…

Did Bill Gates use his turn speaking at a White House dinner to apologize for things such as: Windows, viruses, vaccines, sterilizing people, and trying to block out the sun -- finishing by asking for a pardon over "all the Epstein shit"? No, that's not true: This video was published by a parody account and bears their watermark in the…

Are rabbits spotted in the wild with "weird tentacles" or "horns" infected with a rare virus, as claimed by social media users? No, this is misleading: The rabbits have a common viral infection, papillomavirus, that causes extensive skin growth that looks like horns or tentacles. A spokesperson for the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Department told Lead Stories the "wart-like growths"…

Does a viral video authentically capture a teen girl punching holes in the tailgate of her father's pickup truck because he took away her phone? No, that's not true: The clip of the young woman is a re-titled excerpt of a video that was posted four days earlier as part of a TikTok user's campaign to build audience. It's one…

Do Canadian researchers propose to mass-vaccinate people with crop duster-style spraying of the populace, as a social media post implies? No, that's not true: The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) have paid researchers to develop a needle-free inhaler to inoculate people one at a time against the virus that causes COVID-19. The post that pushes the crop duster idea…

Did clips shared widely in May 2025 authentically show Elon Musk and former CNN anchor Don Lemon arguing during an interview? No, that's note true: The video included audio that was fake, and most likely AI-generated. The clips added the fake audio and lip movements to authentic footage of a real discussion between Musk and Lemon that was published in…