Business

Did President Donald Trump sell $2.3 billion of his Truth Social stock a day before he announced new tariffs? No, that's not true: Trump cannot yet sell his shares in Trump Media and Technology Group Corp., the company that owns the Truth Social platform, according to SEC filings. The company issued a statement saying the claim was a false interpretation…

Was there credible information behind a tweeted report that President Donald Trump on April 7, 2025 was considering a 90-day pause in imposition of the worldwide tariffs he announced April 2? No, that's not true: The White House "rapid response" social media account called the claim "fake news" soon after its appearance had caused stock prices to briefly rise and…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write "No crying in the casino" in a Truth Social post on April 7, 2025? No, that's true: A fake screenshot purporting to show such a post was the result of digital editing. The fake post was shared widely amid stock market turmoil in response to the Trump administration's implementation of tariffs in April 2025.…

Did the South African Broadcasting Corporation air a news segment saying Ukrainian President Zelenskyy bought a 51% stake in mining company Northam Platinum? No, that's not true: No such video appears on the website or social media accounts of SABC News. The audio in the segment was generated using Artificial Intelligence according to online detection tools and Northam confirmed to…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump claim that automobile executive Lee Iacocca had endorsed his tariff plans in April 2025, even though Iacocca died in 2019? No, that's not true: In remarks on April 2, 2025, Trump cited praise of his plan from an unnamed person who had supposedly worked with Iacocca. The former president of Ford and chairman of Chrysler…

Did investor Warren Buffett pay $1 trillion in cash to acquire Elon Musk's Tesla Motors company? No, that's not true: The story originated as an April Fools joke and went viral online. No actual news websites reported on any such investment or acquisition. The story appeared as an article (archived here) on GoBankingRates on April 1, 2025 titled "Warren Buffett…

Does a viral clip show authentic archival footage of U.S. President Ronald Reagan telling a story about his conversation with a child who wanted to solve homelessness? No, that's not true: Two AI detectors found that the clip utilized AI generated sound. The video recycled the recording of Reagan's last presidential address from the Oval Office, but in reality, he…

Did President Donald Trump cancel 20 truckloads of food en route to Ohio food banks and throw it away rather than give it to needy people? No, that's not true: While the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March of 2025 cut federal funding for local food purchased for food banks and schools, there is no evidence this required fresh food…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump write "I am ending all the tariffs today against China, Canada and Mexico" in an April 1, 2025, post on Truth Social? No, that's not true: A screenshot shared by users on other social media platforms was fake. Trump has marked April 2 as a day on which his administration will roll out new tariffs.…

Does video of a syringe with a retracting needle prove that "the elites" faked receiving vaccinations? No, that's not true: It is generic footage demonstrating the use of a prop syringe for use on stage or during filming. It did not document any high-profile individual using the dummy syringe to avoid vaccination. Entries on social media sharing the video in…

Did basketball star Caitlin Clark reject a "$15 Million Offer" from Elon Musk? No, that's not true: Musk did not make the public statement the story said he did. It also contained several phrases from almost identical false stories about Dawn Staley and Patrick Mahomes that went viral earlier this month. Viral claims on social media were often accompanied by…

Did a viral video capture a motorist hitting a pedestrian after a road rage incident with a Tesla driver? No, that's not true: The driver who seems to have hit a pedestrian had been yelling at someone driving next to them in a non-Tesla pickup truck. Neither the sound in the video nor the original description of the clip mentions…

Are emails sent via the public.govdelivery.com email domain and claiming to be about an "unclaimed balance" at Bittrex legitimate? No, that's not true: They appear to be part of an email scam aimed at former users of the now defunct company Bittrex Global. The company itself warned users on its website only to trust emails coming from a limited set…

Was Elon Musk reported in March 2025 to be in talks to buy the Cincinnati Bengals for $15 billion and had reports "surfaced" that Bengals President Mike Brown was considering the offer? No, that's not true: The content of the article making such claims was found to be made up by ai and provided no links, citations or witnesses corroborating…

Did Fox News broadcast a segment about a "revolutionary device that's healing the world" named "Tesla Ionic Care" and "backed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump"? No, that's not true: The TV channel denied that. Three AI detectors showed that the viral video with the Fox News logo contained AI-generated content. The claim appeared in a post…

Did hundreds of bears block vehicle traffic into Yellowstone Park in March of 2025 by sitting, standing and lying down on the entry road, as was claimed on social media? No, that's not true: As of this writing, most Yellowstone Park roads were still closed for winter. The regional press that cover the park have not written about what would…

Does the mugshot of a weeping teenager show identify someone arrested in connection with one of the March, 2025 attacks by vandals on Tesla dealerships and Tesla vehicles? No, that's not true: the mugshot was published nine years earlier. It appeared in 2016 reports about the arrest of Anthony J. Zingale, of Grafton, WI, for alleged sexual assault of a…

Does this photo show a real person described as a "liberal" in some social media posts vandalizing a Cybertruck? No, that's not true: The picture of the half-naked person dressed in weird rainbow colored clothes is ai generated. It originated from an account on X that says it publishes "trustworthy fake news & memes". The image appeared in a post…

Did President Trump unveil a framed copy of the Bitcoin whitepaper hung up behind curtains in the Oval Office to Laura Ingram during a tour? No, that's not true: The footage was digitally manipulated to replace the Declaration of Independence that can be seen in the original video. The edit is visible with the naked eye as the document appears…

Did Damon Imani appear on the February 24, 2025 episode of "The View" to verbally spar with co-host Sunny Hostin over the term "Woke", as a social media post seems to show? No, that's not true: Imani has never appeared on ABC's morning show. He is a producer, artist and commentator who creates and publishes digitally altered videos placing himself…