Fact Check

Will California legislative bill AB 957 require parents to affirm "gender transition" of any child or "lose custody"? No, that's not true: the bill would require judges in custody cases to consider a parent's affirmation of a child's gender identity as one of several components of "health, safety and welfare" determination already established in state law. The bill does not…

Does an insert included in the packaging for one diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) vaccine show a direct link between immunization and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Lead Stories that there is no established causal link between the two DTaP vaccines available in the…

Did U.S. Marines in Maui "tactically abort a gunfight with National Guardsmen"? No, that's not true: The website this claim was made on carries a disclaimer stating that it publishes satirical content. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on September 11, 2023, titled "Marines in Maui: "We're in the Shit!"" (archived here), which opened: United…

Did former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson perform a Nazi salute while standing in front of a controversial flag when he was visiting Ukraine? No, that's not true: This photo has been digitally altered. Johnson received an honorary doctorate, known as Doctor Honoris Causa, at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. The original photo of the event does not show…

Did Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin all say they'll quit "immediately" if "The View" adds Candace Owens as a host? No, that's not true: This claim comes from a satirical website that has a history of fabricating content surrounding popular topics, and features a disclaimer that states, "Everything on this website is fiction." Lead Stories could not find…

Does a video shared to social media in September 2023 show Maui residents "being arrested for camping on the beach with nowhere to go" following the destructive wildfires that killed at least 115 people? No, that's not true: The video in question was filmed in 1985 as part of a documentary showcasing a group of houseless native Hawaiians in the…

Does this video show deadly floods in Libya in 2023? No, that's not true: Lead Stories has found this video posted on different social media sites going back as far as 2016. The claim appeared on Facebook (archived here) where it was published on September 13, 2023. The video showed floodwaters rapidly traveling through a wide stream bed. The video…

Did Facebook or its parent company Meta announce a plan to charge all of the platform's users $4.99 a month for access? Will copying and pasting a post about the change allow people to "opt out" or "bypass the system"? No, none of that is true: Neither Facebook nor Meta made such an announcement as of this writing. Different variations…

Did Sen. John Kennedy read aloud during a Senate hearing sexually explicit text messages former President Barack Obama sent to Larry Sinclair? No, that's not true: The video is authentic, but mislabeled. The Louisiana Republican was reading gay sex scenes from two books during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding banning books from libraries. The claim appeared with a video…

Did the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) reveal in August 2023 that the wildfires in Hawaii were caused by a "weather weapon" developed by the U.S. government? No, that's not true: The claim is part of a Chinese disinformation campaign. Additionally, there is no credible information or evidence to suggest that the wildfires in Hawaii were caused by such a…

Did Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee sign an executive order, around September 2023, to build quarantine internment camps as has been done in many other states at the same time, supposedly? No, that's not true: This TikTok video was first posted on August 17, 2021, shortly after Tennessee Executive Order No. 83 was issued. The executive order (EO) was extended twice…

Does a collage from social media prove that nobody showed up to celebrate Brazil's Independence Day in the country's capital in 2023? No, that's not true: The composite image shared on social media does not contain any photos from 2023. The claim originated from a post (archived here) on Instagram on September 7, 2023. It opened: Happy Independence Day Brazil…

Did World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus admit that he's unvaccinated for COVID-19 as of September 12, 2023? No, that's not true: A clip of Tedros explaining his delayed vaccination was misrepresented. He received COVID vaccination in May 2021, much earlier than the claim indicated. The claim was implied in a post (archived here) by the official account of…

Did CNN report that Cash App went bankrupt and any funds a person had in their account would be given back to them in bankruptcy court? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find any evidence that CNN reported on this claim or that Cash App announced it was seeking bankruptcy court protection. At the time of writing, all…

Does a Pennsylvania judge's ruling in a state civil suit that Donald Trump's false election claims while in office are covered by presidential immunity also apply to his four criminal cases? No, that's not true: A law school professor called the claim in a video "misleading," telling Lead Stories that the "ruling did not find that former President Trump is…

Does a viral picture prove that the Vatican is "ruled by aliens" or show that "the UFO symbol is almost everywhere" there? No, that's not true: The image does not show the Vatican or its official symbols -- the photo shows a coat of arms seen in a Catholic church in Mexico, and there is no UFO on it. The…

Does a video of the South Tower at the World Trade Center in New York City exploding without a plane crashing into it during the 9/11 attacks mean that bombs were the reason the buildings exploded? No, that's not true: The video has been edited to remove the hijacked United Flight 175 plane hitting the South Tower on September 11,…

Did actor James Woods warn the FBI about 9/11 a month before it happened? No, that's not true: Woods said in the same interview being used to make this claim that he "did not report this to the FBI before September 11" and denies the idea that he told the FBI about his suspicions and they did nothing: "That's completely…

Were 7 million people registered to vote in the 2020 general election in Wisconsin when only 4.5 million were eligible voters? No, that's not true: There were more than 3.9 million registered voters and an estimated 4.5 million eligible voters in that election, a Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) representative told Lead Stories. A version of the claim made by former…

Did a July 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conclude that children are being harmed by masks, resulting in a 17 percent rise in developmental disabilities in children 3-17? No, that's not true: A misleading headline on a paywalled Substack blog post mentions a "New CDC Report" as if it offers evidence supporting the claim that…