Politics

Did Elon Musk use a Neuralink implant to save the life of a boy named "Tristan Killip", who had been comatose for a year after a drowning accident? No, that's not true: The story, shared widely in April 2025, was no more than fantasy fiction, and news archives contained no trace of a purported press conference featuring Musk and the…

Did Cody Balmer, who is suspected of arson at the residence of the governor of Pennsylvania, publish a selfie with a "Fuck Trump" inscription? No, that's not true: The picture that went viral after the release of the suspect's name was digitally altered. The caption of the original selfie, which predated the attack by five years, did not mention Donald…

Did a U.S. Congressman named "Jack Kimble" post an apology on X for confusing Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, with the name of a sex act? No, that's not true: As of April 2025, there is no member of the U.S. Congress named Jack Kimble. An X account with the handle "RepJackKimble" posts content that is intended to be…

Did investor Warren Buffett publish an opinion article titled "Sell American. I Am" on April 11, 2025? No, that's not true: A viral image purporting to be a screenshot of such an article was created as a joke according to the account that posted it. There is no record of such an article in Google News. Buffett did write an…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write on social media that he would increase tariffs on China for every 1,000 "likes" he gets? No, that's not true: The viral image of the supposed screenshot of his account was fake. The promise to increase levies on China based on likes did not appear on Trump's social media, as of this writing. The…

Did a video shared widely in April 2025 contain an authentic audio recording of a Spirit Airlines Flight 861 pilot landing at an airport despite orders from an air traffic controller to cede the runway to the U.S. president? No, that's not true: the audio was fake, and the incident was a fabrication. The account that originally posted the video…

Did U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement post on X about ideas crossing the border illegally, along with people, money and products? Yes, that's true: Screenshots of the post were shared widely, amid a backlash around what critics described as the concept of "illegal ideas." ICE later deleted the post, but archived versions of it prove its authenticity. A screenshot of…

Do viral posts tell a real-life story about Elon Musk meeting Keanu Reeves in a heated televised exchange in 2025? No, that's not true: No credible media outlet reported such a debate, as of April 9, 2025. Many of the social media posts about the supposed confrontation resorted to the apparent use of generative AI to make images that barely…

Did the Taliban return Bagram Air Base base in Afghanistan to the United States? No, that's not true: On April 8, 2025, the Pentagon refuted the claim, replying to Lead Stories' questions. Two AI detectors found a significant presence of generative AI in an article that started the rumor. The claim originated from a story published on Medium on April…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump post a meme of Winnie the Pooh on X to troll China's Xi Jinping in 2025? No, that's not true: Lead Stories manually reviewed Trump's account on X and did not find the image social media alleged he published. No credible media organization reported the purported news. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Did President Donald Trump's economic advisor Peter Navarro once attribute quotations to a supposed expert named "Ron Vara", who turned out to have been invented by Navarro himself? Yes, that's true: Navarro admitted in 2019 to having invented "Ron Vara", which is an anagram of "Navarro". He cited Vara's supposed opinions and quotations in several books dating back to 2001.…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump publicly declare that he would implement martial law in the United States on April 20, 2025? No, that's not true: As of April 9, Trump had not publicly given any such order, or made any such declaration. Rumors that Trump would announce or implement martial law on April 20 stemmed from an executive order relating…

Is there a real Wikipedia page titled "Great Leap Backward" describing the opening months of President Trump's second term? No, that's not true: A screenshot of such a page appears to have been created by digitally editing the page about China's "Great Leap Forward" during Chairman Mao's rule. Searches on Wikipedia and Google did not bring up such a page…

Did Joe Rogan podcast guest Dr. Suzanne Humphries accurately describe problems with the polio vaccine and with organized medicine's responses to polio? No, that's not true: A Brown University Medical School professor said Humphries made several errors of fact. She erred in claiming DDT pesticide caused polio and that symptoms of arsenic poisoning match those of polio, leading to misdiagnosis.…

Did Senator Rand Paul call U.S. President Donald Trump "a tyrant" while speaking in Congress on April 2, 2025? No, that's not true: As the full recording of the speech shows, Paul did not even use the word "tyrant" on that occasion. His single reference to tyranny concerned a broad historical context that predated Trump's birth by centuries. The claim…

Did the BBC report that Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska tried to escape to Europe and was put under the guard of the national Security Service when the attempt failed? No, that's not true: In a statement to Lead Stories, a BBC spokesperson refuted the claim, referring to the viral video as "fabricated content that impersonates the BBC." No credible…

Did Congressional Democrats hold an inaugural meeting of something they described as a "shadow government" in the United States in April 2025? No, that's not true: On April 7, Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jamie Raskin led Democratic members of the Senate and House Judiciary committees in a meeting held without the involvement of members of the other party --…

Did a photograph shared in April 2025 authentically show Diana Fox Carney standing alongside her husband, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney? No, that's not true: the image was digitally edited. The original was taken by the Reuters news agency in March, when Carney won the race to replace outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader. The fake picture…

Did President Donald Trump sell $2.3 billion of his Truth Social stock a day before he announced new tariffs? No, that's not true: Trump cannot yet sell his shares in Trump Media and Technology Group Corp., the company that owns the Truth Social platform, according to SEC filings. The company issued a statement saying the claim was a false interpretation…

Was there credible information behind a tweeted report that President Donald Trump on April 7, 2025 was considering a 90-day pause in imposition of the worldwide tariffs he announced April 2? No, that's not true: The White House "rapid response" social media account called the claim "fake news" soon after its appearance had caused stock prices to briefly rise and…