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Was an unidentified young woman robbed, stabbed, and left for dead by the side of the road, and will sharing a post on social media help to identify her? No, that's not true: This post is a fabrication designed to trick people to share the post within their local community. The photo, which appeared in several news articles, actually shows…

Did Fulton County, Georgia, count 20,713 votes that did not exist in the 2020 election and that there are "no records" for, such as poll tapes? No, that's not true: An election-watchdog expert said that claiming votes are missing because of missing poll tapes is "like telling me my house doesn't exist unless I can find all the bank documents."…

Did "Mr. Luke Jones," purportedly a man with dementia, drive away from his home and fail to return, triggering the activation of a silver alert? No, that's not true: No elderly man named Luke Jones is missing at the time of writing. This story is a part of a scam formula that begins with a ruse to entice people to…

Is a woman with Down syndrome currently missing, as a viral Facebook post says? No, that's not true: The woman in the photograph was reported missing on December 15, 2023, and found the same day, according to the police department in Bellingham, Washington. Her image is being used as part of a bait-and-switch scam on social media that uses purposefully…

Is a mother planning on suing a school because they will not let her son identify as a cat? No, that's not true: The creator of this video on social media has "#satire" in the TikTok caption of her post and "SATIRE ACCOUNT" in her TikTok bio. Lead Stories has debunked similar claims in the past. The claim appeared on…

Did a bystander or cohort film a spontaneous incident when a Muslim immigrant urinated on packages of pork in a Dutch supermarket? No, that's not true: The video is staged and was posted by a TikTok creator. The same creator posted several prank videos showing a man, wearing the same clothing, pretending to urinate in inappropriate places. The video was…

Does a video of a hot dog slice under a microscope prove that hot dogs have parasites in them? No, that's not true: A food science expert told Lead Stories that this video was "completely made-up." The U.S. Department of Agriculture told Lead Stories that hot dogs are ready-to-eat products that are "extremely unlikely" to be able to house parasites.…

Did the United States introduce a plan in November 2023 to ban meat consumption nationwide? No, that's not true: The claim implying that New York City's Mayor Eric Adams was somehow involved in a purported federal incentive is not supported by any evidence confirming the existence of such a plan. This is a variation of a previously debunked claim. The…

Did a study detect human DNA in many hot dog samples tested with a new type of technology, finding that many hot dogs, even vegetarian hot dogs, are made with human meat? No, that's not true: A startup named Clear Food, which was seeking Kickstarter funding at the time, published a report that identified 14.4 percent of the hot dogs…

Does a viral video from Gaza prove another case of white phosphorus use by the Israel Defense Forces during the Hamas-Israel war in the fall of 2023? No, that's not true: The specific shots of what was claimed to be white phosphorus projectiles hitting a United Nations school near Al Shati, also known as the Beach Camp, in Gaza, do…