Is a video that shows a giant Pacific Ocean rogue wave crashing over the deck of a cruise ship called "Venessa" real? No, that's not true: The account that originally posted the video clearly labeled it "ai video". The account also labeled it "cinematic ai." The claim appeared in a November 15, 2025 video posted on Instagram account @nautical.daily (archived…
Did a monkey fire an Indian guard's rifle while he was taking a nap at a checkpoint? No, that's not true: There are many clues that the video is AI-generated, notably the distortions in key positions of the video indicating watermarks from the AI video generating app have been removed. Other glitches can be seen in the Indian flag, the…
Does a viral video show Muslims protesting against a Christmas fair in Germany? No, that's not true: The video has circulated since October, 12, 2024, showing a demonstration in Hamburg, Germany, against Israel and in solidarity with Palestinians. The time stamp on the 2024 posts puts the march a full month before Germany's traditional Christmas markets begin, according to tour…
Does a video show a man standing on the edge of the Chicxulub Crater which was formed when an asteroid slammed into the earth about 66 million years ago? No, that's not true: In follow-up comments under the post, the author says "This is an AI simulation of what it may have look like 66 million years ago". They suggest…
Does a real video show a mother giraffe handing a tiny baby giraffe to safari tourists through a car window? No, that's not true: The video is AI generated, as indicated by the brief flicker of the watermark from AI-generating website Vue Media on screen. A real baby giraffe is about six feet tall at birth and weighs between 100…
Did the mother of Christopher Todd Erick discover the body of her deceased son, plastinated and on display in a Real Bodies exhibit in Las Vegas? No, that's not true: The bodies on display in the exhibit originated in China. According to Imagine Exhibitions, owners of the Real Bodies exhibit, the specimen in question has been on continuous display in…
Did Sweden start using a red beet-and-starch-based, food-grade de-icing solution on a large scale to combat road icing and save birds suffering from road salt poisoning? No, that's not true: The Swedish Transport Administration website has a page that explains the the agency did not switch to a new red salt. Lead Stories found no news articles reporting such a…
Did the Justice Department launch a grand jury investigation into California Governor Gavin Newsom, accused by critics of violating the Logan Act by going to a climate conference in Brazil? No, that's not true: The story's source was a fictional character, "US Attorney for North-Central California Joe Barron". The claim originated from a page warning its readers that nothing it…
Do all the collapsed bridge photos on social media really show the Nov. 11, 2025 collapse of the Hongqi bridge in southwest China? No, that's not true: The new Hongqi bridge did collapse, one day after it was closed to traffic due to the appearance of cracks. But many photos circulating on social media have been miscaptioned -- they show…
Does a real photo show the moment in 1952 that a double-decker bus jumped the widening gap of the Tower Bridge drawbridge sections as it was opened to let river traffic through? No, that's not true: While a quick-thinking driver of the London number 78 line was truly celebrated for hitting the gas and jumping the gap, the viral photo…
Does a video of a large mass of floating plastic waste show a shoreline in Asia? No, that's not true: The garbage was flowing from a Guatemalan river in Central America, not Asia, and was flowing into the Caribbean. CBS News shared the video in 2022, reporting it was at the mouth of Rio Motagua, which is considered one of…
Does a real photo show a puffer parka filled with beer that can be sipped via a straw in the Tsingtao-labelled jacket's collar? No, that's not true: A major U.S. distributor of the popular Chinese beer brand told Lead Stories they have seen no such promotional product. Reverse image search shows no other photos in the wild of such a…
Is a federal employee described as an "ICE agent" in social media posts now wanted by law enforcement for his involvement in a Chicago shooting? No, that's not true: No court records say that such an arrest warrant was issued. An attorney for the injured woman, charged with interfering with on-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agents, confirmed to Lead…
Did a wax figure at the "Pine Bluff Historical Museum" turn out to be a mummified real man who had been missing for years as a viral story claimed? No, that's not true: The story was written by "Muhammad Haseeb Ahmer" who first said it happened in Missouri while including key details like towns and institutions that don't exist. A…
Does real CCTV footage capture schoolchildren kneeling on prayer mats and repeating the Muslim declaration of faith, "Allahu Akbar", as viral social media posts claim? No, that's not true: The low-quality clip seemed to have been distorted to conceal the evidence it was AI-generated video. For example, the clip showed the instructor rising from her knees to sit on a…
Did the New York Stock Exchange react to Zohran Mamdani's victory in the mayoral election by relocating to Texas from its 230-year base on New York City's Wall Street? No, that's not true: Intercontinental Exchange, the company that owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange, announced in February, when polls showed Mamdani with a single-digit pool of support, that…
Did viral videos document that Ukrainian soldiers started to surrender en masse in Pokrovsk, as of November 5, 2025? No, that's not true: The clips showed a watermark of a generative AI tool. As of this writing, Ukraine denied that its soldiers in Pokrovsk were surrendering in large numbers. The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published…
Does a real video show a body-armor-wearing riot policeman smiling as he pepper-sprays a woman confronting him at a protest? No, that's not true: The video is labeled "Sora" with watermarks indicating it was created using OpenAI's text-to-video app. It originated on an account devoted to improbable wild animal videos, also labeled as Sora productions. Sora creates fake but "hyperreal"…
Does a real video show a rich executive trying to override a sherpa's decision to wait by paying him to keep going to the Everest summit? No, that's not true: A TikTok account has been posting AI-generated videos of stereotypical Everest scenarios. Some videos, one showing a motorized escalator to the summit, are clearly parody, while other fake videos posted…
Did a kangaroo knock over a mechanical witch Halloween decoration with a powerful flying kick? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. When kangaroos kick out with both hind feet, they support themselves with their tail firmly on the ground. The video (archived here) was published on TikTok by @gonzalopalacios43 on Oct. 24, 2025. The video caption (translated by…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.
