Current Events

Did "DOGE Auditor Joe Barron" uncover that billionaires Mark Cuban, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett each received $250 million in quarterly payments each, for a total of $4 billion? No, that's not true: The story, which also had them donating $1 billion of the money to Joe Biden's campaign, originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner…

Did Donald Trump announce in May of 2025 the government would pay $15,000 cash to anyone who buys an American-made car? No, that's not true: The claim was posted without links or descriptions of where and when Trump said it that could be used to corroborate the claim. No evidence of such a policy was found on the White House…

Did a video authentically show President Donald Trump saying, of clashes between India and Pakistan in May 2025, "let 'em fight"? No, that's not true: The clip was authentic, but was recorded in 2019. Trump was speaking then in the context of conflict between ISIS and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The claim appeared in a May 6, 2025, post on…

Did Harvard University publish a corrected version of a letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon, complete with red pen markups? No, that's not true: the corrected version was posted by an X user in May 2025. Harvard's website and social media accounts showed no trace of the sarcastically annotated letter. The claim appeared in a May 6, 2025, post on…

Did a video show a Pakistani pilot lying on the ground after being shot down during military skirmishes between India and Pakistan in May 2025? No, that's not true: the footage had been online since mid-April, 2025, and appears to relate to an accidental crash near the city of Vehari, on April 15. According to reports, the two Pakistani Air…

Does a viral video show an explosion that is possibly a tactical nuclear weapon being used in the 2025 conflict between India and Pakistan? No, that's not true: The footage showing a huge explosion almost engulfing two tall buildings and a construction crane at night was originally filmed in China in 2015. It showed an industrial accident in Tianjin, China.…

Does an authentic photo of Shiloh Hendrix show her holding a handwritten card that reads: "$250K You Niggers"? No, that's not true: The photo, of the Minnesota woman who was videotaped shouting the n-word at a child, is predated by a version of the same photo in which the card she holds reads: "@AngloSaxonGirl". An AI detection tool found there…

Does video of a night air raid document India's May 6, 2025 attack on Punjab Province in Pakistan and Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, as was claimed on social media? No, that's not true: The clip exactly matches video posted to YouTube October 23, 2023, long before India's ballistic missile attack. In the original posted version of the video, multiple accounts…

Did the U.S. Supreme Court refuse to hear a case about "sexual orientation discrimination" involving Rachel Levine, the Biden Administration's assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)? No, that's not true: The Supreme Court website did not show any record of such a decision. The story originated from an account on Facebook linked…

Did the schedule of the 2025 Qatar Economic Forum include a panel titled "Monetizing MAGA", with President Donald Trump's son Donald Jr. announced to speak there? Yes, that's true: An archived version of the page confirms that. Later, the panel was renamed but it still featured Donald Trump Jr. The statement appeared in a post (archived here) on X where…

Did U.S. Border Patrol find thousands of FEMA relief packages along the southern U.S. border in May 2025, which had been re-routed from hurricane-hit states for the benefit of undocumented immigrants? No, that's not true: That claim originated with a Facebook account that describes its content as satirical. America's Last Line of Defense is a frequent source of fake stories…

Was there a WhatsApp leak in France that revealed the imminent arrest on May 6, 2025 of right-wing politicians Marine Le Pen, Marion Maréchal, Sarah Knafo and Florian Philippot as reported in a video from the "FP+" channel ? No, that's not true: That channel is part of the website of French magazine Front Populaire, which did not publish any…

Does a viral clip show Canada's PM Mark Carney announcing phasing out "all vehicles manufactured before 2000 due to safety and emission standards"? No, that's not true: The video reused the footage of his tariff-related speech while replacing the authentic sound. The audio track was likely to have been generated by AI. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Did a video shared on social media authentically capture a real-life scene showing a police officer "losing his mind" over a parking ticket? No, that's not true: The video originated from a channel that publishes re-enactments. Its website additionally emphasized that those videos are not authentic footage from body-worn law enforcement cameras and claimed copyright protection for its productions, something…

Does a viral post of a man in a Nazi SS uniform document the young life of financier George Soros? No, that's not true: It's not Soros. Further, the meme and other similar posts about Soros provide no documentary evidence for the extraordinary claim that Soros, who was 14 at the time of the Nazi occupation of his home country,…

Was the service history of Colonel Ruby Bradley, an American nurse captured in the Philippines during World War II, removed from official military websites on orders of U.S. President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or DOGE? As of this writing, some pages describing her life were still available on government online resources. Yet, in at least two instances, those…

Did White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt make a request on X for opinions about whether the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) should investigate "a mysterious shell company" tied to "three Democratic senators" that received $622 million, or $500 million, in Ukraine war contracts? No, that's not true: The poll was posted by a self-described satire account. Lead Stories…

The conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor is set to start on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. It is a centuries-old ceremony entrenched in secrecy and powerful rituals, which strikes the world's imagination. This year, 135 cardinals from 71 countries across the five continents (of which Pope Francis has appointed 108, and 12 come from countries that never had a cardinal…

Does a viral online image authentically show "Jewish settlers" pouring a "hit liquid" on two elderly Palestinian sisters in wheelchairs? No, that's not true: According to AI detection tools the image was AI generated and no liquid -- "hit", "hot" or otherwise -- was actually poured on paralysed people. The image contained several details indicating an AI origin, such as…

Did American President Donald Trump post a picture of himself in which he appeared to be dressed as Pope while holding up his right index finger? Yes, that's true: He posted the image to his Instagram account. According to at least one AI detector the image was generated using Artificial Intelligence. The image appeared on Trump's Instagram here (archived here)…