Did a viral image showing a pile of bricks capture a scene in Los Angeles during anti-ICE protests in June 2025? No, that's not true: The photo was taken on the opposite coast of this country, thousands of miles away. The bricks in question were stacked up in New Jersey for construction work, as confirmed by local reporting. The claim…

Did Elon Musk reply to Stephen Miller's "We will take back America" post on X with "Just like I took your wife"? No, that's not true: Musk addressed the claim, saying he never posted that comment and there's no record of it on Musk's account or Miller's. Such a post would have been very newsworthy and yet there are no…

Does a video shared on social media show "lawless rioters" attacking a Los Angeles shop owner during "anti-American sovereignty riots" in June 2025? No, that's not true: The video was recorded at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Anaheim, California, on October 6, 2024. The video was included in reporting by local television stations and newspapers on that date. The store…

Did a video shared widely in June 2025 authentically show a real airline passenger spanking a woman who was attempting to exit her seat on to the aisle? No, that's not true: The footage came from a sketch posted to Facebook by a user who regularly posts similar scripted scenarios. The same actors can be seen in other sketches on…

Did President Trump announce in a video that the production of Tesla cars would be banned in the United States? No, that's not true:The audio in the viral video, in which Trump could also be heard calling Elon Musk a "snake", was generated using AI according to a detection tool. It originated on an Instagram account with "AI" in its…

Lead Stories is sad to learn of the announcement of the passing of Pablo Reyes Santiago (also via his Facebook account) and we offer our deepest condolences to his friends and family. Although he may not have realized it, Pablo was instrumental to the history of Lead Stories as a fact checking website. He was so famous for his pranks…

Was TikTok influencer Khaby Lame arrested by ICE and was he "deported"? No, that's not true: A video on X making that claim showed a 220963977 A-number from ICE's detainee locator system that currently does not show any results. An ICE spokesperson said Lame was briefly "detained" on June 6, 2025 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada…

Did actor Robert De Niro call White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt "KKKatherine" and did she respond that her family "fought to end slavery" while his "snuck into the country illegally in the 1920s"? No, that's not true: A meme describing that supposed exchange originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known…

Did President Trump post on Truth Social "That totally was a Nazi salute that Elon did by the way"? No, that's not true: a viral image of such a post was fabricated. There is no trace of such a post on Trump's actual Truth Social account and none was indexed by Google. Had he done so, it would have been…

Did President Trump post on his Truth Social account on June 5, 2025, that Elon Musk should "go back to Africa"? No, that's not true: The @realDonaldTrump timeline was closely watched at the time in anticipation of Trump's responses to Musk during their high-profile tit for tat dispute. There is no evidence the post ever appeared on Trump's Truth Social…