Did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ban Tesla CEO Elon Musk from Facebook? Has Musk responded to Zuckerberg's alleged statement? No, neither of those are true: This claim comes from a satirical website and was originally posted in March 2023 labeled as satire before it was republished, without the satire label, in August 2023. Lead Stories could not find any evidence…

Does the Russian region of Kaliningrad "now belong to Belarus," with NATO forces supporting Minsk in its struggle against Russia? No, that's not true: No parties allegedly involved in the supposed confrontation issued any statements confirming the purported annexation, and no credible sources corroborate the claim. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on YouTube on August 25,…

Did Ukraine capture an entire "train" carrying multiple SU-57 jets used by the Russian army? No, that's not true: The video making such a claim in its clickbait headline did not actually say anything about this fighter jet. As of this writing, there is no evidence that Ukraine was able to seize any SU-57s. The claim appeared in a reel…

Does an article published in the medical journal Cureus prove that ivermectin reduces COVID-19 mortality by 74 percent? No, that's not true: A professor of medicine at John Hopkins University School of Medicine told Lead Stories, "The study does not establish a causal role for ivermectin in the fluctuations of death rates in Peru," adding "the claims seem poorly supported."…

Is former President Donald Trump facing the possibility of the death penalty in the four indictments against him? No, that's not true: Lead Stories spoke to three legal experts who told us that none of the charges against Trump carries the death penalty if convicted. While one charge, "Conspiracy against rights," can be eligible for the death penalty, that's only…

Did Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates suggest on the social media platform X that people who resist a coming "mRNA tsunami" will be punished by exclusion from society? No, that's not true: There's no record the billionaire ever wrote it on his account. The expression "mRNA tsunami" was taken from a different person's public talk, and it was said in a…

Did country singer Jason Aldean refuse a $1 million paycheck to sing the national anthem at the 2024 Super Bowl, saying, "I'll do it for free"? No, that's not true: This claim came from a satirical website. Google News' index of thousands of credible news sites did not confirm that Aldean had turned down the paycheck, had made such a…

Did the "entire population" of Hawaii chant "Fk (Fuck) Joe Biden" during the president's visit to Maui on August 21, 2023? No, that's not true: A short clip on social media did not show any supposed protesters, and footage of the same event, captured by two news outlets independent of one another, established that nobody was chanting anything during this…

Does a video shared to social media on August 23, 2023, show Russian oligarch Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin's jet "on fire before crashing"? No, that's not true: While the video itself is authentic, it documented an unrelated plane crash that reportedly occurred nearly two months earlier on June 24, 2023, "near the village of Kantemirovk," about 700 miles from the village…

Do vitamin K shots typically given to infants at birth put their lives at risk with excessive and unreasonable exposure to dangerous ingredients? No, that's not true: The claim is misleading about the properties of the additives and omits the life-saving benefits of the injections. The claim appeared in a reel published to Facebook on May 25, 2023. Its caption…