Technology

Does a video show a laser beam from the sky, or a Directed Energy Weapon (DEW), cause an explosion in a city, or spark the wildfires in Maui, Hawaii? No, that's not true: This viral video predates the August 8, 2023, Maui wildfires. It shows an electrical transformer exploding in the Santiago commune of Macul, Chile, which was first posted…

Does a rail gun's ability to "hit a target 100 miles away in a perfectly straight line" prove that the Earth is "missing curvature"? No, that's not true: Such claims are "absurd" and "completely nuts," two physicists told Lead Stories. That's because rail guns fire projectiles that are subject to the same laws of gravity as all other objects on…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin order the executions of "defiant 5G executives"? No, that's not true: The claim, published by a website with a long history of spreading false statements, was not corroborated by credible sources in English or Russian. The claim originated from an article (archived here) published by Real Raw News on August 14, 2023. It was titled:…

Does this video of a gas station attacked with a red laser beam show an example of a Directed Energy Weapon (DEW)? No, that's not true: This video has been edited. The original eyewitness video does not feature a laser beam. Filmed in the Russian city of Makhachkala on August 8, 2014, it shows a situation developing at a Exson…

Does a social media video show a giant Barbie-doll hologram walking out of a Barbie box next to Dubai's Burj Khalifa skyscraper, the world's tallest building? No, that's not true: This footage displays a computer-generated image (CGI) video created by a social media ad company based in the United Arab Emirates. The company combined a separate video clip of the…

Did BBC News broadcast "breaking news" with guest Elon Musk who announced a new AI investment project powered by a supercomputer that closes deals with a 98 percent success rate? No, that's not true: This is a fake BBC newscast and the video footage of Musk was taken from an appearance at the EEI (Edison Electric Institute) 2023 conference. He…

Did World Economic Forum co-founder Klaus Schwab advocate in public for stripping people of their right to vote and replacing elections with prediction algorithms powered by artificial intelligence? No, that's not true: In a 2017 talk, Schwab only wondered whether the use of such products could go as far as substituting for elections. By no means can his words be…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin prohibit 5G in Russia, tearing down all the towers delivering it? Not, that's not true: As of this writing, 5G is working in major Russian cities, and the government continues to invest in the expansion of the technology. The claim originated in an outlet known for publishing fictitious "news" stories. The claim originated from an…

Did NASA and the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) stage a live stream video pretending to be in zero gravity on board the ISS, and was this hoax betrayed by a blooper where a ball printed like a globe fell to the floor as if under the force of Earth's gravity? No, that's not true: This video shows…

Did Martin Lewis, a popular British financial journalist, endorse an investment platform featuring Elon Musk? No, that's not true: Lewis himself confirmed this is a fake video. This video is a deepfake creation that used Lewis' head from a different video, changed how his lips moved and substituted fabricated audio for Lewis' voice. The authentic video of Lewis speaking on…

Did "The Simpsons" predict the new X logo for Twitter, which appeared as an icon on Homer Simpson's iPhone in an episode released on May 13, 2012? No, that's not true: This cartoon image has been altered to include the new "X" logo, but this is not what the cartoon showed originally. The 2012 cartoon did display an icon with…

Does a photo of Angelina Jolie in a wheelchair with an amputated leg confirm "very sad news" about the actress? No, that's not true: The photo appears to be a doctored image of Jolie's head on the body of a woman in Scotland whose leg was amputated in January 2023. News outlets published photos of Jolie in public as recently…

Is a children's "ankle monitor" toy a genuine product sold in Walmart stores and manufactured by a company named Little Yikes? No, that's not true: A video of the "toy" shared widely on social media in July 2023 was created by spoof company Legboot, which makes "bootleg stuff" and pretends the products are authentic merchandise in real stores. The creator…

by: Evgenia Prodaeva Can "a nuclear explosion like in Chornobyl," the world's worst nuclear accident, now occur at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after the June 6, 2023, explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka dam emptied most of the reservoir used to cool down the plant's reactors? No, that's not true: Zaporizhzhia's six power units shut down in 2022, and no…

Are a person with dementia named "Jackson Simmons" and his dog "Cami" missing and has there been a silver alert issued for "Simmons"? No, that's not true: The story has been posted on social media as a part of a bait-and-switch scam. Such scams use fake information to encourage others to share the posts. Once the posts receive sufficient engagement,…

Does a patent prove that Moderna's mRNA COVID-19 vaccines contain nanotechnology that interacts with 5G? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that mRNA vaccines or their contents interact with 5G technology, a molecular biologist told Lead Stories. A chemical engineer confirmed this, saying there is "absolutely no evidence at all" that such claims are true and that "there…

Did a top World Economic Forum official call for the "elimination" of conspiracy theorists? No, that's not true: The man described as a "top WEF official" in the article making the claim doesn't work for them and doesn't have any authority to decide things on behalf of the Forum; more importantly, that person never said "dangerous conspiracy theorists must be…

Did a dark and menacing stormcloud rotate over the New York City harbor, threatening to form a tornado? No, that's not true: This video of turbulent cloud effects is the work of a TikTok video creator and tutor, @insanepatient2. It was posted online in 2022. Although labeled as New York City, the edited footage actually shows the fabricated stormcloud over…

Were the movies of nuclear tests conducted in the 1950s by the United States fake because the cameras and film used to capture the images were not destroyed by the explosion or the radiation? No, that's not true: The cameras and film used to capture the images were positioned at a safe distance from the explosion and designed to avoid…

Did "Science Guy" Bill Nye state that there was "no place to go" in reference to space exploration, seeming to support claims that NASA, the International Space Station (ISS) and related space exploration programs were a hoax? No, that's not true: In a 2015 interview, Nye responded to a question involving the concept of whether trash should be sent to…