Current Events

Does a video circulating on social media show singer Stefani Germonotta, otherwise known as Lady Gaga, "becoming demonically possessed" during a live performance? No, that's not true: This video has been digitally altered. The original video, taken from a film made of her 2022 summer tour by her fan base, shows Gaga performing with her real eye color -- not…

Was Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds interrupted by Trump chants during the speech in which she endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the presidential race? No, that's not true: The audio of the November 6, 2023, speech has been edited to include chants and remarks from a different event that took place on August 12, 2023. The "we want Trump" chants…

Does a video show Israel bombing a Palestinian water tank, injuring civilians? No, that's not true: The video was not taken in Palestinian territory and does not show a water tank being attacked. Rather, it shows the bombing of a fuel tank in Sudan during the 2023 conflict there. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on…

Did a Donald Trump impersonator take the place of the former president during his November 6, 2023, civil fraud trial? No, that's not true: The visual of Trump sitting in court in this claim on Instagram has been edited. The original footage of Trump sitting during his trial, found on YouTube, is different than the visual in the claim. The…

Does a topless photo show New York Attorney General Letitia James? No, that's not true: This photo does not show James, but Stacey Plaskett, the U.S. delegate to Congress from the Virgin Islands, who was a victim of cybercrime. Two disgruntled ex-staffers pleaded guilty to federal cyber-related charges and were sentenced in 2018 for hacking her phone and disclosing private…

Did the FBI warn about coordinated attacks on more than two dozen American cities by Hamas in the aftermath of the militant group's attack on Israel in October 2023? No, that's not true: The FBI said it hasn't "issued such a warning" and lacks "credible intelligence about coordinated attacks" in the United States by Hamas. Additionally, the FBI director said…

Did the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) hang "250 Deep State felons in October" 2023? No, that's not true: The website where this claim was made has a disclaimer that states it publishes satirical content. Fictional stories from the site are often copied by other sites without any indication they are from a site that publishes satirical content.…

Do two separate images show professional soccer player Lionel Messi holding up a Palestinian flag and an Israeli flag, seemingly in support of both? No, that's not true: Both the images are altered to show Messi with the respective flags. The original images have nothing to do with either Palestine and Israel and were taken as part of a sports…

Does a photo show American soldiers praying in 2023 "before being deployed to defend Israel"? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, U.S. soldiers were not deployed to Israel. This photo was posted on social media in 2017, six years before the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict began. The 2017 post described it as "soldiers praying together after a Chapel…

Does a video on social media show a British law enforcement officer engulfed in flames during a rally related to the 2023 Hamas-Israel war? No, that's not true: The footage predates the conflict and the incident occurred far from the Middle East. It was recorded in Mexico in 2020. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly…

Did Wolf Blitzer and Dr. Oz endorse a new drug that can cure diabetes? No, that's not true: The video showing the CNN host and the physician uses digitally added sound that does not match their mouth movements and there is no record of them ever making the statements shown on the video. As of this writing, there is no…

Does a video shared to X in November 2023 show a "Hamas supporter" burning "the flags of France" in Paris? No, that's not true: Using visual clues shown in the video and a staff translator, Lead Stories determined that the footage was filmed in Tangier, Morocco -- not Paris. The clues led us to the intersection where the protest took…

Did a video on social media capture "the lead advisor to the World Economic Forum" advocating for making "useless people" addicted to drugs and video games? No, that's not true: The recording showed a pre-pandemic discussion about the societal dangers stemming from rapid technological development and growing health care inequalities. One of the two participants, Yuval Harari, is not "the…

Did U.S. Army Rangers stop an improvised explosive device (IED) attack at the World Series parade for the Texas Rangers? No, that's not true: This story is from a satirical website. Google News also did not show any relevant results to this claim. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on November 5, 2023, titled "White…

Does a video on social media show Israel "blowing up people in hospitals" in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: The video shows scenes that can be traced to Omar bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Aleppo, Syria. The facility was hit by an airstrike more than seven years earlier on July 15, 2016.…

Is Bill Gates facing life behind bars on child rape charges due to his alleged inclusion on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's supposed client list? No, that's not true: The article making the claim offers no proof that any charges have been filed against billionaire Gates as of November 6, 2023. Gates' ex-wife Melinda did not post a social media message…

Did NBC News say that former President Barack Obama, who left the White House in January 2017, was serving a "third term" in 2023 as a shadow president? No, that's not true: NBC did not report that. Its news article only referred to claims about Obama "somehow secretly still in power" as an example of election-related misinformation, emphasizing that such…

Did the United Arab Emirates (UAE) send eight planes to Israel, carrying military aid and equipment in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel? No, that's not true: There's no proof to support that assertion. Additionally, the UAE has condemned Israeli ground operations in Gaza and also denied reports of the U.S. military using an Emirati…

Does a viral video from Gaza prove another case of white phosphorus use by the Israel Defense Forces during the Hamas-Israel war in the fall of 2023? No, that's not true: The specific shots of what was claimed to be white phosphorus projectiles hitting a United Nations school near Al Shati, also known as the Beach Camp, in Gaza, do…

Did London officials take down a United Kingdom flag before a march in support of Palestinians to "maintain peace"? No, that's not true: According to an X post from the local police, the flag was taken down to be cleaned. A Google News search of thousands of credible information sources using related key words did not supply evidence that the…