Science

Does a video show a dispute between pro-Palestinian protesters and police in Barcelona, Spain, during the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict? No, that's not true: The video dates back to 2020, almost three years before the conflict arising from Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. According to contemporaneous reports, the people shown in the video were actually protesting against COVID-19 restrictions…

Is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "required to take the COVID vaccines off the market" as of October 21, 2023? No, that's not true: COVID-19 vaccines are not being taken off the market by the FDA as of this writing. All vaccines that were available in October 2023 had a reassuring safety profile, and health experts point to statistics…

Did a social media video document an aircraft releasing a swarm of mosquitoes over Los Angeles in October 2023? No, that's not true: Los Angeles' vector control districts, responsible for pest eradication, said there have been no known airborne releases of mosquitoes over the city in October 2023. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food…

Does an article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and featured in a video on social media prove that vaccination causes a greater prevalence of childhood illnesses? No, that's not true: Journal editors retracted the study because its "conclusions were not supported by strong scientific data." Additionally, the consensus in the scientific and medical communities…

Did vaccines kill millions during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918? No, that's not true: According to medical research and medical experts, the pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people worldwide, was caused by an influenza A (H1N1) virus. A social media post offered no evidence to support its claim, which is contradicted by the body of medical research…

Did BBC News broadcast "breaking" news that Elon Musk has a new trading app that will allow Britons to make so much money that they won't have to work anymore? No, that's not true: The BBC's website includes no such report and the footage of Musk is from an appearance at the World Government Summit on February 15, 2023. He…

Did Pope Francis declare World Economic Forum chairman Klaus Schwab a "more important" figure than Jesus Christ? No, that's not true: The People's Voice, the website originally making the claim, provided no sources proving the pope said this. The site has a long history of publishing fake or made up quotes and has a liability disclaimer that seeks to absolve…

Does a photo show Elon Musk reading a book titled "The Flat-Earth Conspiracy"? No, that's not true: The image in the post has been digitally altered. The photo, which originated from another author's official social media page, displays Musk reading a book with a different cover and title. The claim appeared in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter,…

Can a combination of bentonite clay, calcium carbonate, crushed cloves and kaolin clay help heal cavities? No, that's not true: No reliable scientific studies show bentonite clay can cure cavities, according to the American Dental Association. They do not recommend the clay for any dental hygiene practice. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on July 3,…

Does Canadian government data show that people double-vaccinated for COVID-19 have lost 74% of their "immune system capability," and that those who are triple-vaccinated have lost 73%? No, that's not true: The Public Health Agency of Canada told Lead Stories, "These claims are false." Additionally, there is no publicly available credible Canadian government data or scientific evidence to support such…

Did the head of the CIA acknowledge in a speech that "chemtrails" are real? No, that's not true: In a 2016 speech then-CIA Director John Brennan was discussing a controversial and untested solar geoengineering method called Stratospheric Aerosol Injection technology. "Chemtrails" are not the same thing as Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, which aims to potentially reverse global warming by reflecting a…

Did the Canadian government "admit" that 74 percent of people who are triple-vaccinated for COVID-19 now have "vaccine acquired immune deficiency syndrome"? No, that's not true: The Public Health Agency of Canada told Lead Stories an article making that claim is "false." Also, there is no credible information or reports suggesting that those who have been vaccinated for COVID-19 three…

Was Bill Gates' "air vaccine" greenlighted by the federal regulators to be covertly applied "against non-consenting humans"? No, that's not true: No credible media organizations have reported this purported news. With no supporting evidence cited, the claim only mentions an unrelated Yale study conducted on mice, linking it to Gates. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by…

Did Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, say in a video that Elon Musk is acting as a "dangerous extremist fuse in the internet"? No, that's not true: The clip does not mention Musk and it was taken out of the context of a longer video. The footage was filmed as a message about a…

Did a patent for "Human-Robots" come out in late 2019 at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic -- proving existence of a plan to replace humans with robots, rendering human military and police forces obsolete? No, that's not true: There is a real patent application with the U.S. patent office for "Human-Robots: The New Specie", but it was first…

Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that 99 percent of "Covid deaths" were not primarily caused by the virus? No, that's not true: The claim was propagated by an incorrect headline written by the Daily Mail, which has since been fixed to reflect the corrected details of a story about COVID as a fraction of deaths…

Does a photo of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman -- the 2023 Nobel Prize laureates in physiology -- that shows them wearing face masks demonstrate that they do not trust "their own 'innovation'" in the field of mRNA vaccine development? No, that's not true: An image shared on social media was taken more than a year prior to the announcement…

Did a study by the University of Seattle and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center discover that women harvest and store in their brain DNA from every man they've ever made love with? No, that's not true: The headline on an article grossly misrepresents the findings from a study that did find male DNA (a phenomenon called microchimerism) in 63…

Did Dr. Peter McCullough, an American cardiologist who has repeatedly made anti-COVID-19 vaccine statements, successfully discredit the World Health Organization (WHO) and the global health community's approach to COVID-19 treatment during a speech in Strasbourg, France, on September 13, 2023? No, that's not true: McCullough bases his claims on rejected scientific papers with methodological flaws and long-debunked assertions. The physician…

Will FEMA's October 4, 2023, wireless emergency alert test cause a 30-minute sound on all phones, computers, televisions and radios in the United States? No, that's not true: The test of the emergency alert system will run within a 30-minute window and will be a brief sound. This is clearly stated in the article that is linked to in the…