Did the British Medical Association's news blog reveal flaws that disqualify the results of a contractor's field testing of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, and were the problems ignored by the Food & Drug Administration and by Pfizer? No, that's not true: Pfizer and the FDA were made aware of the allegations about the contractor in 2020. Medical experts say the claims…

Did Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi "pull" CNN's "broadcasting license"? No, that's not true: The article making that claim is a carbon copy of a troll page's counterfeit story, with fake names for government officials purportedly quoted. The premise is impossible, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines Cable News Network (CNN) as non-broadcast, meaning CNN does not have a broadcast…

Was rapper Travis Scott arrested after his Astroworld festival concert, where eight people died? No, that's not true: The Houston Police Department told Lead Stories on November 10, 2021, that the claim was not accurate. Scott also tweeted a statement on November 6, 2021, the day after the festival, at which eight people were killed and 17 were hospitalized, with…

Was Chelsea Clinton hanged at GITMO recently? No, that's not true: This event did not happen. Chelsea Clinton was seen completing the New York Marathon on November 7, 2021. Real Raw News -- the source of the bogus hanging claim -- has a history of creating fictional stories about public figures. There is a disclaimer on their website stating, "This…

Did Kyle Rittenhouse cross state lines with an AR-15? No, that claim is misleading. The gun he used in the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was "purchased, stored and used in Wisconsin," the Lake County Illinois State's Attorney's Office said in a statement. A friend testified during Rittenhouse's 2021 trial that he purchased the gun used in the shooting in Wisconsin,…

Do the reported adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines in the United States include the deaths of 2,433 babies, and is there another study that shows mRNA shots are not safe for pregnant women? No, that's not true: A Lead Stories analysis of the numbers found in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), based on data through October 29, 2021,…

Is SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, "not a truly isolated human virus" because it was only replicated in monkey cell lines? No, that's not true: While the origin of the virus is hypothesized to be from an animal, the virus was isolated from human patients soon after its emergence in humans. SARS-CoV-2 replication in human cell lines has…

Are atheists "prohibited from holding office in 8 U.S. States"? No, that's not true: This claim is missing context. While clauses barring atheists from office remain in those states' constitutions, they cannot be enforced. According to a spokesperson for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a 1961 U.S. Supreme Court case ruling "makes all the state bans on atheists holding office…

Were there "close to hundreds" of lives lost at the Astroworld Festival on November 5, 2021? No, that's not true: According to the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, eight people were killed and 17 others were injured at the event in a crowd of 50,000 people. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) where it was published on…

Was Gov. Gavin Newsom injured and incapacitated by the Moderna booster shot? No, that's not true: California Gov. Newsom said at a live event on November 9, 2021, that he did receive the booster shot on October 27, 2021, but that he had no side effects and spent two weeks out of the public eye working in his office, spending…

Did Germany, China and Slovenia begin charitable ad campaigns soliciting donations to help Americans suffering from food insecurity? No, that's not true: This was a real ad campaign that was announced in 2015, but it did not originate from outside the United States. The campaign, called "Great Nations Eat," was launched by an American public charity, "Share Our Strength," based…

Does Pfizer "admit" that people given its COVID-19 vaccine "shed" spike proteins and infect unvaccinated people? No, that's not true. The claim is based on the standard clinical study protocol used for a wide range of medicines. There is no publicly available evidence the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause vaccinated persons to cast off excess spike proteins. The mRNA vaccines teach…

Will Utah implement a "digital driver's license" that includes a license holder's COVID-19 vaccination status and may eventually consist of information such as their credit score? No, that's not true: Although Utah is introducing mobile driver's licenses, or "mDLs," through a pilot program, that program does not include COVID-19 vaccination records. Other states are considering or have already implemented similar…

Did Gavin Newsom awaken from a vaccine coma at GITMO? No, that's not true: California Gov. Newsom was not in a coma at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp after receiving the COVID-19 booster shot on October 27, 2021. While he was not seen in public for almost two weeks after he received the shot, he was photographed at a wedding…

Did the Italian government exaggerate the number of COVID-19 deaths in the country? No, that's not true: The late-2021 refinement of Italy's statistics did not change the number of COVID deaths documented in Italy. The Italian government began publishing data that shows how many people died of COVID with other serious health conditions (called comorbidities) and how many died of…

Does this video show graphene reacting to electrical impulses, and is there graphene in COVID-19 vaccines? No, both are not true. COVID vaccines contain no graphene. Pre-approval testing of COVID vaccines by independent labs, as well as the ingredient lists submitted by manufacturers, show they contain no graphene. The dancing blob in the video is a liquid attracted to the…

Did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say "it is time to redefine 'natural food"? No, that's not true: This article is fake. The "Minneapolis Red-Star Tribune" does not exist, and there is no record of Ocasio-Cortez ever mentioning "cellular agriculture" when describing the Green New Deal. The claim appeared in a November 3, 2021, Facebook post (archived here) titled "AOC: Time to…

Does the presence of dipotassium phosphate in a food indicate that it is heavily processed and that it could harm your health? No. The Food and Drug Administration classifies this food additive as "Generally Recognized as Safe." The additive dipotassium phosphate is a manufactured salt compound. Both potassium and phosphorus are essential for the body's functioning and are found naturally…

Is Jacob Rothschild worth "$500 trillion" and does he own "every central bank in the world"? No, that's not true: A satirical meme posted about the wealthy Rothschild exaggerates his estimated $5 billion wealth and erroneously claims that he owns every central bank in the world. There is no evidence he has financed both sides of every war since Napoleon…

Did Bergen County, New Jersey, report that 100% of its votes were counted in the state's 2021 general election, yet add unexplained votes afterward? No, that's not true: although news websites such as The New York Times reported that 100% of results were in, that figure did not take into account every vote cast, such as mail-in and provisional votes,…