Does a video show people in January 2025 fleeing from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid? No, that's not true: The video shows men running near a construction site in 2024 or earlier. The building seen in the video was finished before September 2024, according to images on Google Maps. The implied claim appeared in a video (archived here)…
Does a viral clip authentically show Donald Trump's son Barron "whispering something to Biden" during his father's second inauguration on January 20, 2025? No, that's not true: The cropped video misled viewers about the scene's content. The footage of the same scene shot from a different angle showed that at that particular moment Trump's son spoke to outgoing Vice President…
Does a video authentically show Vladimir Putin going "past world leaders to shake Trump's hand"? No, that's not true: The version of the clip that went viral in the days leading up to Trump's second inauguration in January 2025 was edited to remove several key frames documenting one of the 2018 events commemorating the end of World War I. Multiple…
Has Oprah Winfrey died as of January 17, 2025, as implied by viral social media posts? No, that's not true: An article attached to a post implying that Winfrey died did not provide evidence of her supposed death nor mention anywhere in the article text that she had died. Winfrey was active on her verified social media accounts the same…
Did Tesla batteries cause the fire at the Monterey, California, power plant on January 16, 2025 or was their presence related to it? No, that's not true: Fire officials said the fire at the Moss Landing facility started inside a building operated by Vistra Energy, not at a nearby Tesla battery storage area. A Vistra Energy spokesperson told Lead Stories…
Does a video show real images from a 2007 episode of "The Simpsons" that predicted the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires? No, that's not true: None of the images in the video posted on social media were shown in the episode cited in the video, episode 12 of season 18 of "The Simpsons." The images used in the video on social…
Does a video show the "son of a famous Ukrainian prosecutor" who "was spotted in Monaco enjoying his car" during the Russian-Ukrainian war in January 2025? No, that's not true: Lead Stories analysis showed that neither the date, place or identity of the person matched the clip's description. The video was recorded in Florida in 2023 and showed a Ukrainian…
Does an authentic video show Dr. Mehmet Oz promoting a "cure" for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD? No, that's not true: AI detection tools found the video was likely created using AI technology. There is no known cure for COPD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here)…
Did the Ukrainian government state that "eight mansions owned by Ukrainian military officials" were "burned down in wildfires in Los Angeles" in January 2025? No, that's not true: A video that made this assertion contained the logo of United24, the official fundraising platform of the Ukrainian government. A United24 spokesperson and Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation said this video is…
Is a quote describing birth certificates as enslaving tools really found in Woodrow Wilson's private papers or those of his adviser Edward Mandell House? No, that's not true: Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library staff said they found no such quote in their archive. A spokesperson for the library that holds House's papers told Lead Stories they found no reference to…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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