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Did a microphone at a press briefing catch the audible sound of a fart from Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war? No, that's not true: The press briefing clip published by the Iranian Embassy in Kenya has been edited to include a fart sound effect. The original video published on Instagram on March 13, 2026, the day of the press…

Does a photo show a "captured" American in Iran wearing an authentic U.S. military uniform? No, that's not true: The image is AI-generated, and online detection tools indicate it is fake, including a SynthID watermark indicating it was created or edited using Google AI tools. There are no reliable reports of an American service member being taken captive by Iran.…

Does a video show a cyclist finding the Hidden Valley Ranch logo in real life? No, that's not true: While the clip of a man exploring a tranquil valley in Northern California is real, the logo derived from it is fake, and the landscape on Hidden Valley Ranch products does not match the valley in the video. Analysis also revealed…

We agree with some very prominent people. Here's our proposal... Fact Checking Day on April 2, 2026 marks almost a year since Lead Stories published our last fact check as part of Meta's Third-Party Fact Checking Partnership. Since that day we've published over 1500 fact checks on our U.S. website on topics ranging from fake Epstein Files emails mentioning Elon…

Did a video show a mother donkey defend her foal from a fox attack and damage the barn in the process? No, that's not true: A content detection tool determined with 99.9 percent confidence that the video was AI generated. It was made to look like black-and-white CCTV footage filmed by a security camera. The video was shared in a…

Is this a real photo of Hillary Clinton pulling Jeffrey Epstein's tie in front of Bill Clinton? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool found it to be 99.8% likely AI-generated. A separate analysis further revealed a SynthID watermark, indicating the image was created or edited using Google AI tools. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Does a real video show Iranian missiles destroying a U.S. Navy warship in the Strait of Hormuz? No, that's not true: There are no credible news reports of such an attack, and the clip appears to be from a military simulation video game known for its realistic graphics. There is no evidence that Iranian missiles hit an American military vessel…

Does a photo show Hollywood actors, including Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, attending the funeral of Chuck Norris? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool found it to be 100% likely AI-generated. A separate analysis further revealed a SynthID watermark, indicating the image was created or edited using Google AI tools. The claim appeared in a post…

Did President Donald Trump post a message on his Truth Social account saying that Queen Elizabeth should pardon former prince Andrew after his arrest? No, that's not true: The original message was posted by an account clearly marked as satire as the screenshot shows. "Luke Skywalker" actor Mark Hamill shared the fake post, apparently missing the satire label, to mock…

Does a video montage show real scenes of courtroom verdicts and repossessions related to Somali daycare fraud in Minnesota? No, that's not true: These videos are AI-generated ragebait. They are not real videos of courtroom verdicts or repossessions. The videos originated as stand-alone shorts published by one YouTube channel, and were republished as a montage on X with a "Made…