Politics

Was there an explosion near the Pentagon on May 22, 2023? No, that's not true: This is not a real photo but a digitally fabricated image that shows a plume of smoke near a building that slightly resembles the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia. The building in the image is not the Pentagon,…

Did a red banner resembling a Soviet flag fly in Berlin over the Reichstag building, the seat of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament, on May 8, 2023 to commemorate the 1945 liberation of Europe from Nazi control? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that this happened -- the photos and videos are manipulated. The small collection of…

Did mechanical ventilators kill "nearly all COVID patients" during the early stages of the pandemic? No, that's not true: The headline making the claim misrepresented the results of a study that reached a different conclusion: that secondary infections preyed on COVID patients connected to a ventilator to up their oxygen intake. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published…

Do COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and treatments for the virus come from snake venom and do the vaccines then cause humans to produce venom in their bodies? In addition, is nicotine the "perfect antidote" for COVID, making the vaccines unnecessary? No, none of those things are true: These assertions have no basis in science, infectious disease experts told Lead Stories. The…

Did "United States Special Forces" raid a "regime warehouse filled with drug shortage" medicine headed to Ukraine? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories this article "is false." The article is also located on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on May 14, 2023,…

Did NATO sign a written agreement not to expand eastwards after the fall of the Soviet Union? No, that's not true: On its website, NATO refutes the claim, and even Russia -- which historically argued that it was offered verbal guarantees -- did not take it as far as stating that such a formal agreement was signed in the aftermath…

Does a video that shows a long queue for charging Tesla vehicles indicate some sort of government failure? No, that's misleading: The earliest version of this video was reportedly shot over Thanksgiving in 2019. Charging station locations have expanded since then. The claim, which has been made on other platforms, reappeared in a post on Instagram on April 6, 2023.…

Did the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the 2020 general election and award the presidency to Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The Supreme Court does not have the authority to overturn a general election or unilaterally award the presidency to a candidate. The election outcome is typically determined by the Electoral College, following elections at the state level, and is…

Does a viral video show a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Ternopil during the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest? No, that's not true: The same footage first appeared online four months before, where it was used by Russian state-controlled TV in news reports about Iran. The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) published on May 13, 2023. It…

Do three North Carolina hospitals offer gender transitions to children as young as 2, 3 and 4 years old? No, that's not true: Social media posts have misrepresented what treatments are available to patients of various ages, insinuating that these North Carolina hospitals start gender transitions on children as young as 2. However, hormone therapies and gender-affirming surgery are not…

Did actor Kevin Costner file a lawsuit against the American Broadcasting Company's television talk show "The View" for hate speech? No, that's not true: This claim originated from a self-described satirical website aimed at trolling conservatives. Lead Stories could find no credible news reports or public statements confirming that Costner sued ABC or "The View." The website that posted the…

Did the Democratic Party confirm that Michelle Obama will be its presidential nominee in 2024? No, that's not true: There are no news reports about the purported event, and, as of this writing, the former first lady is not an officially registered candidate. The claim appeared in a video on Instagram on May 9, 2023. It showed a woman referring…

Did Elon Musk brag about firing "crybaby liberals"? No, that's not true: This video was made using AI, or artificial intelligence. The Instagram post where this claim originated seems to be an ad for an app that uses AI to make public figures say whatever the user wants. The claim appeared on Instagram (archived here) on May 4, 2023, with…

Did Hillary Clinton say she sacrificed chickens to Moloch in a 2009 email? No, that's not true: The line in question was not written by her. The content of the exchange shows that the phrase was used as a figurative expression of cautious optimism. The claim appeared in a video published on Instagram on May 8, 2023 under the title:…

Do nasopharyngeal swabs, like those used in PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing for COVID-19, affect your longevity and aging? No, that's not true: Most research about the effectiveness and safety of such swabs suggests that they pose no significant threat to most patients. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) posted on TikTok on April 28, 2023. The video…

Does the Chelsea Clinton-endorsed vaccine program "The Big Catch-up" require U.S. children to receive a COVID-19 mRNA immunization? No, that's not true: The program is a global effort to "catch up" on giving recommended childhood vaccines, which declined globally during the 2020 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) told Lead Stories that there are no mandated vaccinations required under this…

Did former Fox News host Tucker Carlson turn down a $30 million offer to host a show on CNN? No, that's not true: This article is satire published by The Dunning-Kruger Times, part of a network of satire sites from America's Last Line of Defense. Although this network offers clear disclaimers that nothing on their websites are true, these stories…

Does a photo on social media depict a Honduran woman named Susana Gonzalez who was the first member of a "caravan" of migrants to be granted asylum in the United States? No, that's not true: This post depicts an old, fake meme that has been recycled online since 2018 by alt-right, conservative online platforms. The woman in the photo is…

Does this video show a large crowd of migrants scaling the fence at the U.S. border with Mexico? No, that's not true: This scene was filmed in North Africa in March 2022 as migrants from sub-Saharan Africa climbed the border fence of the Spanish enclave Melilla in a large coordinated group from the Moroccan side of the barrier. One recent…

Did former President Barack Obama remove half a million pedophiles from government online databases? No, that's not true: The claim refers to changes in criminal record-keeping. The Trump administration issued the memo in February 2017 that more narrowly defined a "fugitive from justice" as a person with an arrest warrant who had also fled state lines. This resulted in 500,000…