Are criminals using business cards laced with the drug "burundanga" to incapacitate women? No, that's not true: The claim about a business card having a substance on it "that could have seriously injured" a woman, making her ill and possibly unconscious, is an urban legend that has been recycled since at least 2008 and has been debunked before. The claim…

Does an Israeli study based on medical records of the Maccabi Healthcare Services HMO prove vaccines are less effective than natural immunity? No, that's not true: While the study does indicate people who survived infection with SARS-CoV-2 resisted the delta variant better than those who had been vaccinated, it also notes that people who have been infected and vaccinated fare…

Did the U.S. leave $85 billion worth of weaponry and equipment in Afghanistan after U.S. forces left the country? No, that's not true: The figure more closely reflects the cost of total security funding -- ranging from training to counter-narcotics programs -- allocated to Afghanistan rather than the specific cost of weaponry and equipment, according to the Special Inspector General…

Are disposable medical swabs that have been sterilized using ethylene oxide gas carcinogenic and considered dangerous? No, that's not true: It is commonly used to sterilize medical equipment and disposable products like swabs and wound dressings that might not be able to withstand sterilization methods that include heat or moisture. However, it is true that the Department of Health and…

Did animals kept at the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo in New Jersey escape during the state's experience with the remnants of Hurricane Ida? No, that's not true: The animals did not flee the zoo during the storm. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on September 2, 2021. It included a screenshot of a tweet attributed to…

Did the military raid Hunter Biden's home in California on August 30, 2021? No, that's not true: A duty officer at the Pentagon verified with Lead Stories that it's false. Also, this could not have been possible as the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the U.S. military from enforcing domestic laws, and Lead Stories has previously debunked multiple contentions published by…

Did Germany halt all COVID-19 vaccines because they are unsafe and no longer recommended? No, that's not true: Clickbait headlines, capitalizing on the language barrier, are representing as factual a multiday broadcast event that made clear that its "global pandemic exit exercise" was a type of political theater. The video shows a "planspiel," a scenario-based simulation presenting what the new…

Does the state of Hawaii say it has had 45,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true. Neither the state of Hawaii nor a representative of the state made this claim. The claim was made in part by an attorney who is taking legal action against Hawaii's state vaccine mandate on behalf of union members. The attorney referred…

Did the United States leave behind military working dogs in cages in Afghanistan? No, that's not true: "No military working dogs were left behind," the Pentagon told Lead Stories. The photograph of dogs in cages at the Hamid Karzai International Airport were dogs that were under the care of an animal rescue organization, not the U.S. military. The claim appeared…

Does a widely shared video show a real instance of a woman in a wheelchair pretending to have lost her leg to collect money and then being confronted about her fakery? No, that's not true: The video shows several signs of being staged. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) from August 27, 2021. It featured a video…

Did the military arrest Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, on August 30, 2021? No, that's not true: It is not even possible, as the Posse Comitatus Act makes it a federal crime to use the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement. Also, the claim is made on a website known for publishing false assertions and that…

Did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that the COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe? Did Dr. Anthony Fauci and "Big Pharma" lose a lawsuit to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others over the safety of COVID vaccine? No, neither of those are true: There has been no recent court proceeding, or ruling, from the Supreme Court stating that COVID vaccine is unsafe.…

Did a new, more-deadly virus arise in August 2021 called "COVID-22"? No, that's not true: social media users grabbed the phrase "COVID-22" from a German news site's interview with an immunologist, causing a worldwide health scare. He used the phrase as casual shorthand for his prediction that there will be more variants of SARS-CoV-2 beyond the delta variant that caused…

Did hurricanes Katrina, Gustav, Issac, Harvey and Ida all make landfall on the same day of the calendar? No, that's not true: While they made landfall within a few calendar days of each other in different years, they did not all make landfall on the same day. A scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University said…

Did the Taliban use a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter to hang a person and then fly over the city of Kandahar with their body suspended by a rope? No, that's not true: This blurry footage shows a helicopter flying with a living person suspended below. The person is supported by a harness, not by a noose around their neck. Additional footage…

Did former professional athlete Tim Tebow release a public message in August 2021 that mentions a biblical prediction of a cashless society and "Anti Christ"? No, there's no evidence to prove that, and plenty of evidence to show the post is part of a Facebook copy-and-paste challenge that began circulating at least as far back as 2020, from the page…

Did Kamala Harris once pose for red carpet photos with Jeffrey Epstein? No, that's not true: On September 17, 2015, Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff were photographed together at a black-tie dinner for the opening of the Broad Museum in Los Angeles. The original photo from the inaugural event at the museum is in the Getty Image library…

Has the government sent letters to farmers telling them that they must destroy their crops and be paid one-and-a-half times the value of the crop or lose all government farm subsidies? No, that's not true: A collection of hoax TikTok videos has been circulating with baseless claims about a global or U.S. government plot to destroy crops and depopulate the…

Does the Zello app, which allows users to talk via a push-to-talk (or "walkie-talkie") feature, work without a cellular signal? Not unless the device has an internet connection. According to a Zello sales representative, if there is no cellular signal, the phone must have access to Wi-Fi for the app to work. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived…

Is Mel Gibson directing a film about the Rothschild family and "hitting the new world order"? No, that's not true: Gibson was slated to act in, not direct, a movie titled "Rothchild," but the movie never went into production. Gibson's representative told Lead Stories the movie was, "Long since gone." The same rep previously denied a connection between the proposed…