Fact Check

Did the South African Broadcasting Corporation air a news segment saying Ukrainian President Zelenskyy bought a 51% stake in mining company Northam Platinum? No, that's not true: No such video appears on the website or social media accounts of SABC News. The audio in the segment was generated using Artificial Intelligence according to online detection tools and Northam confirmed to…

Do posts about a "young boy, around 3 years old," found in The Bronx express authentic concern about the child said to have been found unattended "an hour ago"? No, that's not true: The content of these posts was later replaced with real estate images and obscure links. This is a common tactic to trick people into disclosing sensitive personal…

Are Facebook posts reporting a baby boy was found "abandoned by the roadside roughly an hour ago" in March and April 2025 genuine? No, that's not true: The posts are part of a bait-and-switch scam designed to lure social media users into sharing content that then flips into an unrelated page to boost dubious real estate and marketing promotions. The…

Did Elon Musk say in a post on X that DOGE had uncovered "tens of millions of dollars spent on golf by a single government official"? No, that's not true: What appeared to be screenshots of a March 16, 2025, post by Musk to that effect were in fact digital fabrications. The fake post appeared to be a satirical allusion…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump claim that automobile executive Lee Iacocca had endorsed his tariff plans in April 2025, even though Iacocca died in 2019? No, that's not true: In remarks on April 2, 2025, Trump cited praise of his plan from an unnamed person who had supposedly worked with Iacocca. The former president of Ford and chairman of Chrysler…

Did the family of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez overlook 14.5 years of cashing the social security check of their dead grandmother? No, that's not true: The "news" about the social security check originated on a website with a clear satire disclaimer. It is run by a man known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The claim appeared in…

Did Wisconsin run out of ballots in Republican-leaning "red areas" on the day of the State Supreme Court election on April 1, 2025? No, that's not true: The shortage affected only the City of Milwaukee, election officials told Lead Stories. In the last three federal elections, the city supported Democratic candidates. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published…

Does a viral video show singer R. Kelly walking out of prison after being pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025? No, that's not true: The scene predated the singer's conviction in the 2022 criminal trial. As of this writing, R. Kelly is still on the list of currently incarcerated people on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. The…

Did a series of Facebook posts in late March and early April 2025 offer genuine concern over Katie Cunningham, a police officer supposedly missing from various locations in the United States? No, that's not true: Such posts were examples of a known "bait-and-switch" scam, which garnered well-meaning shares of the original post before flipping its content to boost dubious real…

Did investor Warren Buffett pay $1 trillion in cash to acquire Elon Musk's Tesla Motors company? No, that's not true: The story originated as an April Fools joke and went viral online. No actual news websites reported on any such investment or acquisition. The story appeared as an article (archived here) on GoBankingRates on April 1, 2025 titled "Warren Buffett…

Does a viral clip show authentic archival footage of U.S. President Ronald Reagan telling a story about his conversation with a child who wanted to solve homelessness? No, that's not true: Two AI detectors found that the clip utilized AI generated sound. The video recycled the recording of Reagan's last presidential address from the Oval Office, but in reality, he…

Did President Donald Trump cancel 20 truckloads of food en route to Ohio food banks and throw it away rather than give it to needy people? No, that's not true: While the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March of 2025 cut federal funding for local food purchased for food banks and schools, there is no evidence this required fresh food…

Did President Trump post a message to Truth Social about denaturalizing and deporting dual citizens as "traitors" under the espionage act? No, that's not true: A viral image purporting to be a screenshot of such a post was fabricated. The post did not appear on Trump's account. An example of the image appeared in a post on X (archived here)…

Did a March 2025 video demonstrate that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had issued an arrest warrant for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton? No, that's not true: the video included two clips of Bondi mentioning the Clinton email controversy, but nothing to support a title which declared "Pam Bondi ISSUES ARREST WARRANT for Hillary Clinton." The Justice Department made…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write "I am ending all the tariffs today against China, Canada and Mexico" in an April 1, 2025, post on Truth Social? No, that's not true: A screenshot shared by users on other social media platforms was fake. Trump has marked April 2 as a day on which his administration will roll out new tariffs.…

Is "leaked" audio of Elon Musk telling President Donald Trump that "Tesla is going down" authentic? No, that's not true: Five tests included in the University at Buffalo Media Forensic Lab's Deepfake-O-Meter rated probability that the audio file is AI-generated at between 97.8 to 100 percent. The posts promoting the audio as real do not include any supporting evidence. The…

Does video of a syringe with a retracting needle prove that "the elites" faked receiving vaccinations? No, that's not true: It is generic footage demonstrating the use of a prop syringe for use on stage or during filming. It did not document any high-profile individual using the dummy syringe to avoid vaccination. Entries on social media sharing the video in…

Did wrestler Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, threaten to "punch" Elon Musk on X in March 2025, if the tech billionaire "doesn't leave America alone"? No, that's not true: A review of Johnson's posts doesn't confirm he ever published what was attributed to him. The claim originated from an obscure clickbait website whose disclaimer said that it "assumes…

Did a series of Facebook posts in late March 2025 offer genuine concern over Blasia Lackey, a teenager supposedly missing from various locations in the United States? No, that's not true: Such posts were examples of a known "bait-and-switch" scam, which garnered well-meaning shares of the original post before flipping its content to boost dubious real estate and marketing promotions.…

Did commentator Ben Shapiro criticize the work of American painter Georgia O'Keeffe for "not looking like anything"? No, that's not true: quotations attributed to Shapiro actually originated in a 2021 article by the self-described satire website The Hard Times, and were re-shared again in March 2025. Similarly, Shapiro never posted a video to YouTube with the title "Ben Shapiro DESTROYS…