Politics

Do posts on social media show that Israel is registered as a company in the United Kingdom? No, that's not true: Companies House, an executive agency of the British government that maintains the register of companies, told Lead Stories that "it's not." However, Israel, which is officially listed as a "state," must register as an "overseas entity" because it owns…

Is there a "Balfour lease" for Israel that expired on October 31, 2023? No, that's not true: Israel's creation did not stem from any agreement indicating that its land is temporary. There is a Balfour Declaration, a statement made by the British government in 1917 that set the stage for Israel to become a country; however, the declaration did not…

Did Yemen officially declare war on Israel in October 2023? No, that's not true: No credible sources have reported that as of November 1, 2023. Posts on social media making the claim misrepresented the role of the Houthi movement, which tried to launch drones and missiles targeting Israel in October 2023. This group is not internationally recognized as Yemen's government.…

Does a map published on social media claiming to show U.S. military bases around Iran accurately portray America's military presence there? No, that's not true: The map overestimates the number of U.S. bases in the region. U.S. Central Command, which has command authority over U.S. forces in the Middle East and West/Central Asia, and military experts contacted by Lead Stories…

Does a video on X show Hamas crisis actors pretending to be Palestinian corpses in October 2023? No, that's not true: This video was originally posted on YouTube in 2013. It shows students protesting at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, featuring a display of "corpses" represented by actors. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X, formerly…

Did recently discovered New York Military Academy papers confirm in 2023 that former President Donald Trump's IQ was measured at 73 at the time? No, that's not true: The claim is a recycled rumor that has been circulating on the internet at least since 2019. Contrary to posts on social media, no newspaper published such a story. The claim resurfaced…

Did protesters in Washington, D.C., riot and rush people into a house on October 28, 2023, as a video on Instagram claims to show? No, that's not true: The video is from a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. The homeowner told television station WUSA9 at the time that he invited the protesters into his home to wait out a curfew.…

Does a viral social media video show an Iranian attack on a "petrol pump" in Israel in 2023? No, that's not true: The footage is from 2014 and showed an explosion at a gas station in Makhachkala, capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan. The explosion did not happen during the October 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict. It occurred years earlier and…

Does the Salzburg, Austria, airport have a counter for people who flew to Austria instead of Australia? No, that's not true: A meme originated from a satirical ad campaign positioned at the baggage claim in the Salzburg airport. The ad, featuring a SOS call button, was from a communication technology company that provides solutions such as the SOS intercom call…

Did U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggest that Elon Musk go to the sun to study climate change? No, that's not true: The audio and the visual backdrop of this video clip have been digitally altered. In the real interview that this footage was taken from, on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Ocasio-Cortez did not speak about sending Musk to…

Did President Joe Biden endorse a plan by the federal government to distribute a "health subsidy" worth up to $6,400, with every American qualifying for the payment after watching a video shared on Facebook? No, that's not true: The claim that the government is freely giving out health benefits worth thousands of dollars is a scam. Such scams are usually…

Was the same Palestinian child used to stage fake rescue photos from three separate Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on the same day in October 2023? No, that's not true: These three photos were taken in Aleppo, Syria, on August 27, 2016, by photojournalist Ameer Alhalbi. These photos are unrelated to the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict. In the aftermath of…

Did McDonald's change its food wrappers to blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, in support of Israel during the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: The fast food chain told Lead Stories that the wrappers were not intended to make a political statement. They come in a variety of colors, not just blue and white, and…

Does a set of nearly-identical videos on social media depict Israeli law enforcement grappling with people in October 2023 in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip or Jerusalem? No, that's not true: The footage was first posted online in April 2023. It shows clashes with Christian pilgrims in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, not in Gaza and predates the Hamas-Israel war by more than…

Did a "Hamas crisis actor" fake a video during the Hamas-Israel conflict in October 2023 that showed him hospitalized one day and walking around OK the next? No, that's not true: The side-by-side videos on social media show two different people. Additionally, one of the videos was shot more than a month earlier -- not the day before the other…

Was a "corpse" in Gaza captured on camera "texting on his phone" in October 2023, amid the Hamas-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: This photo has appeared on social media since at least November 2022 -- 11 months prior to the conflict, which began on October 7, 2023. Lead Stories determined that the photo, which featured a human seemingly sitting…

Are photos showing leaders of Hamas "living luxuriously" generated by artificial intelligence? No, that's not true: The set of images in a viral social media post making that claim already appeared in an article published online in 2014. The person who posted the images in October 2023 later clarified he ran them through an upscaling algorithm in an attempt to…

Was a black flag that appeared over Razavi Shrine in Iran in October 2023 meant to express a "call to all of Islam for War"? No, that's not true: In this particular case, it was a symbol of mourning, as the Facebook account for the shrine itself wrote. While extremist groups have hijacked the symbolism of black flags in recent…

Have 30 people in New Zealand, all allegedly given COVID-19 shots at one clinic on the same day, all died since receiving their vaccinations? No, that's not true: A New Zealand Ministry of Health official told Lead Stories that "There is no evidence to support this claim." Also, only four deaths in New Zealand are possibly linked to reactions following…

Is a video of jets surrounding Donald Trump's jet real? No, that's not true: The video that appeared in a viral X post is from a video game. A YouTube video with the same footage has "#flightsim" and the acronym to a flight simulation video game in the description. A TikTok video with the same footage also has the same…