Technology

Does a photo of the Artemis I mission launch show that the rocket missed its target, falling short of the moon -- perhaps dropping into the ocean? No, that's not true: The launch went as planned and the Orion spacecraft orbited Earth once en route to the moon. This is a real photo of the launch of the uncrewed Orion…

Did CNN publish an article or a news report stating that "Elon Musk could threaten free speech on Twitter by literally allowing people to speak freely"? No, that's not true: As of November 28, 2022, the CNN website had not published such a story, which originated from a satirical website overtly presenting itself as a "source of fake news." The…

Did Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin "admit we never went to the moon"? No, that's not true: The 2015 video interview from which a clip was taken to support this claim actually showed Aldrin answering a different question. The claim reappeared in a post on Instagram published on November 24, 2022. The accompanying text comment said: It's clear as day…

Do COVID-19 nasal test swabs contain both lithium and DARPA hydrogel that allow recipients to be remotely controlled? No, that's not true: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Lead Stories that nasal swabs used to test for COVID do not contain lithium or hydrogel from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The claim appeared in a TikTok video…

Does an image widely circulated on social media accurately depict an Anchorage Daily News article about a Virginia man who was arrested for having created "exact replicas of classified US military bases" in the Minecraft video game? No, that's not true: This is a digitally altered meme that was initially posted as a joke in an online social forum. The…

Did former President Donald Trump say in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he will return to Twitter when Elon Musk, the social media platform's new owner and CEO, calls him "daddy"? No, that's not true: Trump has not posted about this on Truth Social since Musk reinstated his Twitter account on November 19, 2022. There…

Did Apple delete all its tweets? No, that's not true: While Apple's official Twitter account @Apple is devoid of tweets, it's not because they were deleted. The tech giant doesn't typically tweet, but it does maintain other official Twitter accounts for its brands, including @AppleMusic, @AppleTV and @AppStore, that are active. Apple does change its profile pictures occasionally to promote…

Did Twitter employees protest Elon Musk by marching in gay pride regalia with a banner after he became the owner of Twitter? No, that's not true: There have been no reports of Twitter employees protesting Musk's ownership by marching with this banner. This altered photo of marchers with a Pride flag originally is from a June 2, 2013, Pride parade…

Is Twitter owner Elon Musk charging journalists who use the non-gendered pronouns "they/them" $16 per month to secure a blue check verification -- twice the price as other users? No, that's not true: The claim is satire and neither Twitter nor Musk have announced a plan to double charges for nonbinary reporters. The claim appeared in a November 8, 2022,…

Is the Earth flat and surrounded by a transparent barrier that prevents rockets from leaving the Earth's atmosphere? Beyond this barrier, is there a firmament composed of water or a liquid-like substance? Does this explain why the U.S. government in 1962 launched Operation Fish Bowl -- to use nuclear weapons to try and break through that barrier? No, that's not…

Did Maricopa County, Arizona ballots make a stop with no observers at "Runbeck Printing Company" to be sorted before they were sent to the county for counting? No, that's not true: The claim was made without direct evidence. Maricopa County's spokesperson said bipartisan teams of election workers took sealed envelope packets to Runbeck Election Services, where envelope signatures are scanned…

Did "Jacinta Ardern", the prime minister of New Zealand, threaten to put mRNA vaccines in the water supply if enough people did not take the shot? No, that's not true: This claim originated in late January 2022 with an image of a made-up news article that was never published. Although that false image has been debunked, the rumor that Ardern…

Are the ExpressPoll pollbook devices used in Dallas County for the 2022 general election operating on out-of-date software? No, that's not true: ExpressPoll Version 7.2.3.0, the up-to-date version, was certified by the Texas Secretary of State's office in May 2022, its spokesperson Sam Taylor confirmed to Lead Stories. "Dallas County would not have been able to use them if they…

Were "poll pads" in Texas caught adding "hundreds" of voters in real time as a poll was being closed? No, that's not true: The state-certified Election Systems & Software (ES&S) voting systems e-pollbooks in Dallas County, Texas, previously experienced "some delay in the downloading" of checked-in voters and then caught up, according to the Texas Secretary of State. "The updating…

Was U.S. government aid to Ukraine misused by funding Democratic candidates during midterm campaigns through the crypto exchange FTX? No, that's not true: Social media posts did not differentiate between private donations and U.S. government funds allocated to support Ukraine, and no reliable sources reported that either of those was invested in FTX. The claim appeared in re-posts identical to…

Did a Republican poll watcher in Arizona have access to voter check-in information where she claims to have seen evidence that 200 extra ballots were counted? No, that's not true: The Maricopa County Elections Department told Lead Stories that "[p]olitical [p]arty observers do not have access to voter check-in data," plus "there are processes in place every election to reconcile…

Do large downticks in cumulative voting graphs for the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate and governor's races prove election fraud? No, that's not true: Edison Research, which supplies election data to news organization websites, told Lead Stories that the downticks shown by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell on social media and on his Frank Speech website -- totaling tens of thousands of…

Does a video show an "Iranian whistleblower" revealing how they hacked a federal voter registration database during the U.S. 2020 election and created fraudulent overseas ballots? No, that's not true: The footage -- shown at an election integrity event in October -- includes a screen recording that the U.S. Justice Department already determined is intended to mislead people. It does…

Was it suspicious that more Democrats in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, requested mail-in ballots than Democrats in Philadelphia County, even though 273,765 fewer registered Democratic voters live in Allegheny County in 2022? No, that's not true: This also happened in 2018 and 2016, according to a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State, who added, "There is no evidence of fraud."…

Is Seattle billionaire Bill Gates now chairman of the Maricopa County, Arizona Board of Supervisors? No, that's not true: A representative for Maricopa County told Lead Stories that a different Bill Gates serves Maricopa County. Gates the billionaire and villain of many conspiracy theories, is a longtime resident of Seattle, where the company he co-founded, Microsoft, is headquartered. The claim…