Europe

Did Universal Studios first introduce the concept of the world as a globe in 1927 before NASA had photographed it from space in the 1960s? No, that's not true on several counts: It did not take NASA's space program to discover that the Earth was round. Greek philosophers had already described the Earth as a sphere as early as the…

Under U.K. law, can people be fined £1,000 specifically for flying the flag of England, also known as St. George's Cross, on a vehicle? No, that's not true: The law only imposes fines for flags that violate specific regulations regarding size, location or how they are mounted. There is no law prohibiting the act of flying the English flag itself.…

Did President Joe Biden wander aimlessly away from a group of world leaders during a skydiving demonstration at the Group of Seven summit? No, that's not true: Biden did take a few steps away from the group, but it was to give a thumbs up to the paratrooper adjacent to the group who was collecting his gear. The Folgore paratroopers…

Does a video accurately show actress Angelina Jolie in 2024 condemning violence in Gaza? No, that's not true: The version in a social media post is edited from a 2020 video of Jolie giving a message of support to the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The video posted on social media is edited to remove the mention of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a comparison…

Does a viral video show a scene just before Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was attacked in June 2024? No, that's not true: The footage is unrelated to the incident and was recorded in a location about 125 miles away according to geolocation evidence. Copies of the footage have been circulating online since 2020 so the timing doesn't match either.…

Does a video show President Joe Biden trying to sit on "a chair that doesn't exist" on June 6, 2024, during ceremonies commemorating D-Day in France? No, that's not true: The video that went viral on social media has been edited to crop out the moment Biden sits down on an existing, tangible chair. In the extended video, Biden is…

Did Jill Biden lead President Joe Biden out of the Normandy ceremony before it ended, as a post on social media implies? No, that's not true: The ceremony on June 6, 2024, honoring D-Day veterans at the 80th anniversary commemoration of the Normandy landings was ending when Biden and the first lady left the ceremony. French President Emmanuel Macron and…

Did China's Defense Ministry warn it would "intervene militarily" if the United States or NATO attacked Russia? No, that's not true: No credible evidence supports this claim. Additionally, there are no official statements or credible reports from the Chinese government or its Defense Ministry to support this assertion. Nor is there any report of such a statement in China Daily,…

Has Lia Thomas, the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA swimming championship Division I title, been exclusively banned from competing in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, as a post on Facebook implied? No, that's not true: The International Olympic Committee outlined a framework for all transgender and intersex athletes. However, national committees oversee athletic participation in their respective…

Does a 50-second video show authentic remarks by U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller discussing "military targets" in the Russian city of Belgorod, with "virtually no civilians left" in that city? No, that's not true: The video mixes video of different briefings, during which Miller made no such remarks. The words falsely attributed to him in the video were AI-generated.…

Did soccer manager Pep Guardiola avoid shaking hands with "the Israeli representative" in May 2024? No, that's not true: A viral video on social media misidentified the man passed over by Guardiola as he greeted a line of well-wishers at a match in 2023. The bypassed man was another soccer manager, Alan Smith. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Does a video on social media show Cristiano Ronaldo offering support to "children of Gaza"? No, that's not true: The original video of soccer superstar Ronaldo was posted in 2016 and he said it was for the "children of Syria," not the children of Gaza. His voice has been altered to change the word "Syria" to "Gaza," and the background…

Do 31 patent citations prove actor Terrence Howard invented virtual reality? No, that's not true: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says that Howard's idea was never patented in the United States, while the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization websites show the patent process was never completed internationally. Additionally, there is no direct correlation between the…

Does an image show a legitimate "pedosexual" acceptance flyer that lumps pedophilia into the acronym LGBT? No, that's not true: The "flyer" is a fabricated document designed and spread by online networks that are biased against LGBTQ+ causes. Pedophilia is not an accepted sexuality under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter,…

Does a viral image prove that U.K. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer socialized with Jimmy Savile, a British TV personality accused of dozens of sexual offenses? No, that's not true: The image was digitally altered to place Savile in the room with Starmer. The original photo showed Starmer sitting next to Gordon Brown. The image appeared in a post (archived…

Can the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, or EISCAT Scientific Association, use its technologies for mind control, as a video on social media claims? No, that's not true: EISCAT Scientific Association Director Axel Steuwer told Lead Stories that there is "absolutely no mind control possible" with the program's systems, which primarily measure physical elements of the upper atmosphere using the…

Does a social media video show an incident on May 21, 2024, in which a Boeing Singapore Airlines plane hit extremely rough air? No, that's not true: The clip is from nearly five years earlier. Instead of the Singapore Airlines flight, the video shows another case of heavy turbulence from June 2019, involving an ALK Airlines plane over Europe. The…

Was there a debate that took place in the UK in May 2024 about removing the Holocaust from school curricula? No, that's not true: A social media post making the claim in May 2024 began circulating in 2019. Years earlier, a 2007 report circulated about one UK school where the Holocaust was not taught as an optional topic. The British…

Is the wife of the suspect in the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico a Ukrainian refugee? No, that's not true: The head of the country's national police said that such speculations on social media are "definitely a hoax." Lead Stories found no credible news reporting corroborating the claim. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on…

Does a video show French prisoners celebrating the killing of two police officers in an ambush in May 2024? No, that's not true: The video predates the attack by almost a year. The ambush happened as a prisoner named Mohamed Amra rode in a prison van; a car struck the van and gunmen shot the two officers, allowing Amra to…