Water

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…

Does a viral video really show a Chinese electric helicopter you can buy for $300 and that can stay in the air for ten hours? No, that's not true: The video does not show a single-seat helicopter capable of flying at 120 kilometres per hour made by Xiaomi or "the world's cheapest helicopter". It shows an American-made helicopter from Florida…

Did Atlanta Braves Manager Brian Snitker adopt an orphaned baby named "Pinky" who was rescued from the July Texas flood? No, that's not true: Photos of Snitker cradling an infant and the text of a story claiming he adopted the "poor, shivering newborn" were all generated by artificial intelligence tools and shared on a fake baseball fan page administered from…

Did a viral post about the miraculous rescue of a woman who gave birth to her baby during floods in Texas in July 2025 authentically summarize a real-life story? No, that's not true: The post was based on an AI-generated composite image. We found no corroboration for the underlying story. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on…

Did ICE arrest Mexican nationals who helped flood recovery efforts, and did Texas Gov. Greg Abbott say "I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods"? No, that's not true: A viral TikTok video contained a fabricated story about ICE "aiming weapons" at the rescuers and "loading them into vans". A clip of Abbott contained fake audio and…

Did a widely-shared video show a real Mexican soldier speaking to camera and saying "We're to help the people of Texas"? No, that's not true: The clip was produced using AI. The video contained telltale glitches such as the soldier's name badge reading "MEXICIO" instead of his name, and a small watermark in the corner of the video signified that…

Did President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post, ask the public to "focus on Mexicans and flooding" rather than whether he is "all over the Epstein files"? No, that's not true: A widely-shared screenshot which appeared to show such a message was, in fact, fake. A search of the president's TruthSocial account yielded no record of his having written…

Does a viral video really show body camera footage of a "crazy Karen" being arrested for keying a Tesla and shooting the driver's side three times with a handgun? No, that's not true: The "Axon bodycam" timestamp in the video is a fake that does not match the struck-through zeroes seen in real police video time stamps. The bullet holes…

Does a viral video show real bodycam footage of a cop trying to illegally search a car and finding out it is his boss, the new sheriff? No, that's not true: The Axon bodycam timestamp in the video is a fake and does not look like the timestamps in real police videos. The video was published on a YouTube channel…

Did a TikTok video shared widely in July 2025 accurately claim that shackled bodies found in Europe were deportees from the U.S. that ICE had dropped into the ocean from planes? Here's what we know: Lead Stories has so far found no evidence to support that shocking claim. Spain's Civil Guard told Lead Stories that "ICE deportations flights from the…