Politics

Does a video that resurfaced on social media show Uyghur women consuming alcohol against their will on "the second day of Ramadan" in 2023? No, that's not true: The clip was initially published in 2018, but the exact date and circumstances of filming remain unknown. The clip reappeared in a post on Instagram on March 24, 2023. Its caption said:…

Does a video show President Joe Biden being led into a room by a blind man? No, that's not true: Biden was escorting a blind man into an event in Kansas City, Missouri, allowing the man to hold his arm as they were ushered to their places for a speech by Biden. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…

Did actor Morgan Freeman make a video criticizing President Joe Biden for talking about ice cream? No, that's not true: This is a deepfake of Freeman. Someone has put on a filter that looks like Freeman's face while also trying to speak like him. The TikTok account that originally posted this video had "Celebrity Impressionist" in the bio. The claim…

Was a "little boy" in female clothes videotaped while traveling on the same plane as President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: A video making that claim on social media shows Biden's granddaughter Natalie Biden going down steps from the aircraft behind her grandfather. The claim appeared in a reel published on Facebook on March 15, 2023. The clip had…

Did White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre say that the United States is "deeply concerned" about China and Brazil switching to national currencies when conducting business with each other? No, that's not true: A search of sections of the White House website covering "Statements and Releases" and "Press Briefings" produced no such statements by Jean-Pierre or any other White House…

Does a social media video show a European Parliament member sniffing cocaine during a public meeting? No, that's not true: The man seen in this video is a former German politician who was never a European Parliament member. Also, he is legally using dry snuff tobacco -- not cocaine. The claim originated in a post on Twitter (archived here) on…

Was Jacob Chansley, the Capitol rioter better known as the "QAnon Shaman," released early from prison to a halfway house "following video evidence showing that January 6 [2021] was a hoax" and an "inside job"? No, that's not true: The Bureau of Prisons told Lead Stories that Chansley was transferred from a federal correctional institution to community confinement on March…

Did Democrats dress "a black guy as a white supremacist" to cast a bad light on supporters of former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The picture, which shows five people standing side by side with tiki torches, is a 2021 demonstration by a group of anti-Trump Republicans mimicking a 2017 rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, that…

Does a social media video prove that reported Russian missile strikes on Ukraine didn't take place or were staged? No, that's not true: The video, which alternates between images of Independence Square in the capital Kyiv and BBC television coverage showing damage across the war-ravaged nation, only confirms that missile strikes didn't take place in that particular part of the…

Did Tennessee TV news station WSMV 4 Nashville tweet that a father vowed an "end to tolerance" of "trans evil" in response to the March 27, 2023, Covenant School mass shooting that killed six people? No, that's not true: The broadcast station publicly stated that the tweet was fabricated. Lead Stories found no evidence to corroborate that the claim was…

Does this photo show the Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale holding a protest sign that says, "TRANS RIGHTS ...OR ELSE?" with a graphic of five long guns in the colors of the trans flag stripes? No, that's not true: This photo was taken at a protest in Oklahoma City at about 11 a.m. CDT on March 27, 2023, the same…

Does a "bombshell letter from Stormy Daniels debunk" Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's pursuit of potential criminal charges against former President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The statement circulating on social media in March 2023 was first publicly released on January 30, 2018, and was widely reported at that time. Since then, Daniels has said the document is false,…

Did two Ukrainian soldiers driving a vehicle with a Ukrainian flag and a Nazi-style straight-armed cross on the tailgate stop a woman driving on a rural road and argue with her because she spoke Russian -- and then as she and her child became increasingly panicked and cried, did one of the soldiers fire a gun several times in her…

Do gay men and gay women make up 2 percent of the world's population but commit 45 percent of all sexual assaults against children? No, that's not true: Experts in the field say there is not a greater risk that gay people will be child molesters. Also, 3 percent of people in the world identify as gay, not 2 percent,…

Do viral images of Russian President Vladimir Putin actually show him being arrested? No, that's not true: The "photos" were created by AI-based software, and, as of this writing, Putin is not under arrest, despite a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. The claim appeared in a post published on Facebook on March 26, 2023. It contained a video…

Does a "real tweet" from a Twitter account called "Taliban Public Relations Department, Commentary" proclaim that Afghanistan has the second-largest collection of Humvees behind the United States? No, that's not true: There is no proof that the tweet cited on social media is from the PR arm of the Taliban. Also, another post on the same Twitter account appears to…

Do recently released photos show some inexplicable changes to John Fetterman's appearance -- evidence that a clone has been substituted for the real senator from Pennsylvania? No, that's not true: Fetterman has been out of the public eye in recent weeks since he checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment of depression on February 15, 2023.…

Did the LGBTQ+-focused dating app Grindr threaten to "reveal every Republican legislator and party official who secretly uses" it, if "Florida doesn't stop passing homophobic and transphobic laws"? No, that's not true: The original wording for the allegation comes from the Twitter account of a satirical website. Grindr also told Lead Stories that it values the privacy of its users.…

Did the military sendoff for Donald Trump on January 20, 2021, and Air Force One's departure at nearly noon that day mean that Trump actually was inaugurated for a second term as president of the United States? No, that's not true: The official archived report from Trump's last day in office shows that Trump left Joint Base Andrews at 9…

Do images circulating on social media show press photos of Anthony Fauci under arrest and in police custody? No, that's not true: Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has not been arrested. These are not photos of a real incident but are images generated by an artificial intelligence program. Jack Posobiec posted the…