Technology

Did President Joe Biden propose a ban on gas stoves? No, that's not true: He is against the idea of a future ban on gas stoves, a White House spokesperson has said. A Consumer Product Safety commissioner said gas stoves posed a "hidden hazard," but clarified that he meant regulations would only apply to future products. The claim appeared on…

Did Microsoft founder Bill Gates tweet about forcing COVID-19 vaccinations on people by injecting mRNA into their food supply? No, that's not true: A search of Gates' Twitter account reveals the tweet is fake. The claim appeared in an article published by NewsPunch on January 10, 2023, titled "Bill Gates Vows To Pump mRNA Into Food Supply To 'Force-Jab' the…

Has NASA footage of a spaceship 3,200 kilometers (1,988 miles) long been recently released by a NASA engineer turned whistleblower? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that a spacecraft of this size followed the Apollo 13 mission to the moon and back. The UFO claims made by Bob Dean, who died in 2018 and was never a NASA…

Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admit that COVID-19 vaccines were created as part of a "depopulation kill plan"? No, that's not true: The CDC has never described COVID vaccine programs as a "depopulation plan." There is no record of the health agency having made this statement, and an article claiming as much did not cite any…

Is the World Economic Forum (WEF) or its founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab, planning a major cyberattack that would effectively shut down "our society as a whole"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the WEF or Schwab have such a scheme in the works. The allegation, which was widely circulating on social media in early 2023,…

Did a YouTube video reveal that Elon Musk bought the search engine giant Google? No, that's not true: The video has a clickbait title, offers no details of a sale and appeared on a YouTube channel that admits its videos are fictional and have no connection to Musk. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has no record that Google, a…

Are there massive hidden structures located below Antarctica, hiding a "lost city unlike any other"? No, that's not true: There is no written record, geological or archeological evidence to prove that there are hidden structures or a lost city underneath Antarctica. Images shared in an article published by TheDailyWorld.NET are either altered versions of authentic photographs or scenes from the…

Does the word "coronavirus" mean "heart attack virus" in Latin? No, that's not true: A translation shown in a video circulating on social media relied on the intentional misspelling of the word, which triggered Google Translate glitches. The claim appeared in a video published on Instagram on January 7, 2023. The caption said: @ericmoutsos_ if #you #go to #god #forsaken…

Did Alyssa Milano's "temper tantrum" over Elon Musk cost her $13 million? No, that's not true: This satirical article was published by a website connected to the satire network, America's Last Line of Defense, which clearly identifies its content as untrue and not to be taken seriously. The story appeared in an article published by dunning-kruger-times.com on January 8, 2023,…

Is the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) introducing plastic as a new food group for Americans? No, that's not true: An FDA spokesperson told Lead Stories, "This claim is false." The video that makes the claim appears to be connected to an article from The Seekonk Reporter, a satirical news site. The claim appeared in a video of B-roll footage…

Did Romanian authorities free social-media influencer Andrew Tate from jail two days after arresting him in connection with human-trafficking charges? No, that's not true: A spokeswoman for Romanian law enforcement told Lead Stories that, as of January 3, 2023, Tate remained behind bars. Tate's attorney confirmed that status. The claim appeared in a Facebook video post on December 31, 2022.…

Do COVID-19 vaccines contain an "HIV protein" that is causing "vaccine AIDS," resulting in an increase in people "showing up HIV-positive"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to suggest COVID mRNA vaccines currently available in the U.S. contain an HIV protein. Neither of the ingredient lists for the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty or the Moderna Spikevax COVID vaccines contain an…

Does a NASA photograph show a "perfectly built" pyramid located on the surface of Mars? No, that's not true: A photo shared on Facebook in December 2022 said to show a pyramid on Mars is a digitally altered image using actual NASA photos, with an Egyptian pyramid added. An Egyptologist told Lead Stories that the top image in the post…

Did Max Loughan, a 13-year-old who gained fame in 2016 for creating an "energy harvesting device," disappear for "about six years"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that Loughan was or is missing or hiding. A video posted by his school, Tahoe Expedition Academy, shows him giving his senior passage presentation in 2021, and his school also posted an…

Does the orange dot on the iPhone mean someone is listening to you or spying on you? No, that's missing context: A cyber security expert told Lead Stories the orange circle is a warning from Apple that the microphone is being used by an app on the phone, but that does not mean that anyone is listening to you or…

Did Elon Musk file a billion dollars in lawsuits against "totally unprepared" Kathy Griffin? No, that's not true: The site that posted the story and a "Fact Check" follow-up is satirical. There are clearly marked disclaimers on the website that state everything on the site is a satirical work of fiction. The claim appeared as an article (archived here) where…

Did a young engineer named Christian discover a way to make cars more fuel efficient, but get fired from his job after telling his managers? Did he then develop a chip that will calibrate a car's fuel usage? No, that's not true: Much of this video footage was lifted from a YouTube video promoting the University of Huddersfield. The young…

Was former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal arrested for possessing child pornography? No, that's not true: The article is from a satirical website and is completely made up. It was originally published without a satire label but has been updated to note that it is an "obvious satire article." The claim appeared in an article published by Vancouver Times on December…

Is a "young whizkid" inventor shown in a social media video despised by electric companies for creating a device that "cuts 50% off an average home's power bill"? No, that's not true: The young man shown in the video is an inventor but not of some purported power-saving gadget called FusionWatt. Instead, he's working on mind-reading technology that would allow…

Did Twitter remove "over 44,000 Twitter pages involved with child sexual exploitation -- in just India alone" since Elon Musk took over the company? No, that's not true: Such large numbers came from global totals, not from India alone. Also, while the implication in the post is that such numbers began with Musk's takeover of Twitter, available information shows it…