&Quot;Brazil&Quot;

Can women get pregnant by sunlight as a result of the process called parthenogenesis? No, that's not true: Mammals, including humans, do not reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on Facebook on March 13, 2023. The male host said: Women can do that. They can get pregnant by sunlight. It's called parthenogenesis. The description…

Will FIFA (the Federation Internationale de Football Association) keep Pele's feet in its museum? No, that's not true: A FIFA spokesperson who replied to a Lead Stories query by email on January 5, 2023, said, "We completely refute this claim." The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) published on January 3, 2023. The tweet's text, under adjacent photos of…

Did Brazilian soccer fans throw projectiles at the Brazilian soccer team coming home from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar? No, that's not true: The video on which this claim is based dates from 2018, and shows protesters throwing projectiles at a bus that they believed was part of the 2018 presidential campaign of former Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula…

Did the Brazilian military kill the leaders of the Red Command cartel in early December 2022, and prepare to "take over" the country? No, that's not true: The article circulating on social media that makes these claims contains multiple factual inaccuracies and recycled false claims. The claim appeared in an article published by thegatewaypundit.com on December 5, 2022 (archived here.)…

Is it impossible that Nazi Germany used a gaseous form of hydrogen cyanide, also known as Zyklon B, to commit mass murder in World War II concentration camps because the compound is "air soluble" and conditions in gas chambers "would not allow for sufficient concentrations of gas to form"? No, that's not true: A chemistry professor told Lead Stories that…

Does a photograph of a packed street in the city of Sao Paulo show thousands of Brazilians protesting against alleged voter fraud after the country's 2022 presidential election? No, that's not true: The picture is from a 2016 protest against corruption. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November 13, 2022, with the title "Brazil is Doing This Correct…

Do allegedly discovered "dozens of boxes" with "zero Bolsonaro votes" offer evidence confirming election fraud in Brazil? No, that's not true: Brazil doesn't use paper ballots -- voters cast ballots electronically. The claim appeared a tweet (archived here) published on November 7, 2022. It said: Update from Brazilian leaders: Military audit of the election will now be released Wednesday. Dozens…

Did Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who recently lost his reelection bid in a fiercely contested runoff, declare martial law on November 2, 2022? No, that's not true: A fake presidential decree circulating on social media that makes this declaration does not exist. It bears an out-of-sequence number and is not in Brazil's official language of Portuguese. While Bolsonaro had not…

Does a social media video show narcotraffickers and Communists celebrating the election victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva In Brazil's presidential election? No, that's not true: The video clip shows street celebrations in Brazil from August 2019 following a court order. The claim appeared in an article and video (archived here) published by the InfoWars website on October 31,…

Milli Legrain is a multilingual journalist and consultant based in Washington D.C. with 17 years' experience in the United States, Latin America, Spain and the UK. She is fully trilingual (English, Spanish and French) and speaks Portuguese. She covered the 2016 and 2020 US elections for Univision and Telemundo. Her freelance work has been published by The Guardian, BBC Mundo,…