The year is almost over, so it is good to look back. First, the numbers, as of December 15, 2022. This year we have published 1,555 fact checks in English (so far ...) 283 fact checks about COVID misinformation; 244 debunks of Russian propaganda and false claims about the invasion of Ukraine; 140 debunks of false claims about election fraud,…
Did Elon Musk tweet that Democrats paid former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey millions of dollars to block or delete the pages of people who posted about Hunter Biden's laptop during the 2020 election? No, that's not true: Lead Stories could find no evidence that Musk wrote the tweet nor any credible news reporting on its claims. The claim appeared in…
If Arizonans voted primarily for Republican candidates in the November 8, 2022, election, but a Democrat still won the race for governor, was the election rigged? No, that's not true: Election data from past years show ticket-splitting is common in Arizona. An Arizona pollster with two decades experience tracking election data told Lead Stories it is not unusual for the…
Did the U.S. military arrest "several Deep Staters" who attended President Joe Biden's state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron on December 1, 2022? No, that's not true: The U.S. military is not allowed to arrest civilians. This claim comes from Real Raw News, a website that regularly produces fabricated headlines and articles. The claim appeared in an article published…
Did the staff of presidential candidate Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee suppress political speech leading up to the 2020 election against then-President Donald Trump when it requested certain tweets be reviewed? No, that's not true: all of the deleted tweets we were able to review apparently violated Twitter's Terms of Service -- in particular, the rule that forbids…
Does a large drop in Wisconsin's active military votes between 2020 and 2022 suggest fraud? No, that's not true: There's no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Turnout can vary greatly from election to election, especially whether they're presidential, primary or midterm ballots. Also, the 2020 election set a modern record for the highest overall voter…
Did former President Donald Trump say in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he will return to Twitter when Elon Musk, the social media platform's new owner and CEO, calls him "daddy"? No, that's not true: Trump has not posted about this on Truth Social since Musk reinstated his Twitter account on November 19, 2022. There…
Did former President Donald Trump tweet on November 19, 2022, for the first time since having his Twitter account reinstated? No, that's not true: He has not tweeted since January 8, 2021. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November 19, 2022, with the caption "Donny is back!!!! Template from @mba_mikey." The post read: It is true that I…
Does a photograph of former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump show Obama using his middle finger to express his unfavorable opinion of his successor in the White House? No, that's not true: The image has been altered from the original, which shows the two men shaking hands during an Oval Office meeting in 2016. The claim appeared in a…
Do incorrect numbers posted to on-screen graphics during a live streamer's coverage of Election Night prove there was election fraud in the 2022 Pennsylvania governor's race? No, that's not true: Those graphics are not produced by election officials and are not official results. They are a live-streaming broadcaster's responsibility. Anchors during a live broadcast of Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN)…
Lead Stories is a U.S. based fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or
inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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