Technology

Are there massive hidden structures located below Antarctica, hiding a "lost city unlike any other"? No, that's not true: There is no written record, geological or archeological evidence to prove that there are hidden structures or a lost city underneath Antarctica. Images shared in an article published by TheDailyWorld.NET are either altered versions of authentic photographs or scenes from the…

Does the word "coronavirus" mean "heart attack virus" in Latin? No, that's not true: A translation shown in a video circulating on social media relied on the intentional misspelling of the word, which triggered Google Translate glitches. The claim appeared in a video published on Instagram on January 7, 2023. The caption said: @ericmoutsos_ if #you #go to #god #forsaken…

Did Alyssa Milano's "temper tantrum" over Elon Musk cost her $13 million? No, that's not true: This satirical article was published by a website connected to the satire network, America's Last Line of Defense, which clearly identifies its content as untrue and not to be taken seriously. The story appeared in an article published by dunning-kruger-times.com on January 8, 2023,…

Is the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) introducing plastic as a new food group for Americans? No, that's not true: An FDA spokesperson told Lead Stories, "This claim is false." The video that makes the claim appears to be connected to an article from The Seekonk Reporter, a satirical news site. The claim appeared in a video of B-roll footage…

Did Romanian authorities free social-media influencer Andrew Tate from jail two days after arresting him in connection with human-trafficking charges? No, that's not true: A spokeswoman for Romanian law enforcement told Lead Stories that, as of January 3, 2023, Tate remained behind bars. Tate's attorney confirmed that status. The claim appeared in a Facebook video post on December 31, 2022.…

Do COVID-19 vaccines contain an "HIV protein" that is causing "vaccine AIDS," resulting in an increase in people "showing up HIV-positive"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to suggest COVID mRNA vaccines currently available in the U.S. contain an HIV protein. Neither of the ingredient lists for the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty or the Moderna Spikevax COVID vaccines contain an…

Does a NASA photograph show a "perfectly built" pyramid located on the surface of Mars? No, that's not true: A photo shared on Facebook in December 2022 said to show a pyramid on Mars is a digitally altered image using actual NASA photos, with an Egyptian pyramid added. An Egyptologist told Lead Stories that the top image in the post…

Did Max Loughan, a 13-year-old who gained fame in 2016 for creating an "energy harvesting device," disappear for "about six years"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that Loughan was or is missing or hiding. A video posted by his school, Tahoe Expedition Academy, shows him giving his senior passage presentation in 2021, and his school also posted an…

Does the orange dot on the iPhone mean someone is listening to you or spying on you? No, that's missing context: A cyber security expert told Lead Stories the orange circle is a warning from Apple that the microphone is being used by an app on the phone, but that does not mean that anyone is listening to you or…

Did Elon Musk file a billion dollars in lawsuits against "totally unprepared" Kathy Griffin? No, that's not true: The site that posted the story and a "Fact Check" follow-up is satirical. There are clearly marked disclaimers on the website that state everything on the site is a satirical work of fiction. The claim appeared as an article (archived here) where…

Did a young engineer named Christian discover a way to make cars more fuel efficient, but get fired from his job after telling his managers? Did he then develop a chip that will calibrate a car's fuel usage? No, that's not true: Much of this video footage was lifted from a YouTube video promoting the University of Huddersfield. The young…

Was former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal arrested for possessing child pornography? No, that's not true: The article is from a satirical website and is completely made up. It was originally published without a satire label but has been updated to note that it is an "obvious satire article." The claim appeared in an article published by Vancouver Times on December…

Is a "young whizkid" inventor shown in a social media video despised by electric companies for creating a device that "cuts 50% off an average home's power bill"? No, that's not true: The young man shown in the video is an inventor but not of some purported power-saving gadget called FusionWatt. Instead, he's working on mind-reading technology that would allow…

Did Twitter remove "over 44,000 Twitter pages involved with child sexual exploitation -- in just India alone" since Elon Musk took over the company? No, that's not true: Such large numbers came from global totals, not from India alone. Also, while the implication in the post is that such numbers began with Musk's takeover of Twitter, available information shows it…

Did Twitter CEO Elon Musk purchase former President Donald Trump's Truth Social in December 2022? No, that's not true: A video shared on Facebook claimed in the headline that Musk had bought the social media platform, but a voiceover narration in the video made no mention of such an event. The headline was merely clickbait. At the time of writing,…

Does a video shared on social media show an authentic "human clone robot factory"? No, that's not true: The video shared on Instagram and Facebook in December 2022 showed a prosthetics studio used in the making of props for television and movies, as documents featured in the clip prove. The claim originated on Instagram on December 17, 2022, in a…

Did Tesla launch a new cryptocurrency that will rapidly turn a £200 ($240) investment into thousands in just days? No, that's not true: This deceptive ad is not associated with Tesla. Although Tesla has invested in cryptocurrency, and Dogecoin can be used to buy some Tesla products, the automotive-energy company owned by Twitter CEO Elon Musk has not created a…

Did Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweet that Tesla, his electric-vehicle and sustainable-energy company, was forced to recall its entire fleet? No, that's not true: The tweet was posted by a parody account impersonating Musk, the CEO of Tesla. The parody tweet (archived here) was published on December 22, 2022. It read: Tesla has just been informed by the NHTSA that…

Does a video of satellite imagery showing what a post describes as a "massive underwater wall" stretching from "pole to pole" prove that the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: A video of Google Earth seafloor mapping data depicted in the post shows what's known to mapping analysts as a "digital seam," or a location of the ocean floor…

Were the FBI payments to Twitter, documented in what's known as Part 7 of the "Twitter Files", compensation for censoring? No, that's not true: The evidence provided shows the payments were reimbursement for costs associated with the company's work responding to information requests from the FBI. Claims that the FBI was paying for content moderation are false, according to a…