China

Does a social media photograph of a fiery explosion show evidence of U.S. and U.K. strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in January 2024? No, that's not true: It's an old image. In reality, the photo shows an explosion in the Chinese city of Tianjin in August 2015. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known…

Was a video filmed on New Year's Day 2024 at the Bayside Marketplace in Miami showing panicked bystanders running and falling as a mysterious glowing "portal" opened near them? No, that's not true: This video was first posted on TikTok by a Russian-language paranormal-themed channel on May 17, 2023, months before the police response to a New Year's Day 2024…

Did an upstate New York firefighter named David, along with his brother, a former NASA engineer, invent a safer, better and more energy efficient electric heater after David's daughter got carbon monoxide poisoning from a fire in her bedroom? No, that's not true: This detailed inventor's narrative, presented with the many high pressure sales tactics like special pricing and purported…

Will T-Mobile start fining individual customers in 2024 for sending texts or posting content the company doesn't agree with? No, that's not true: The claim on social media misrepresented the nature of the change that will only affect the third-party vendors sending out automated messages. T-Mobile told Lead Stories that the company doesn't "censor" personal texts. The story appeared in…

Does a video on social media provide evidence that Hamas has been staging civilian casualties in Gaza by filming rubber dolls that look like real babies? No, that's not true: The video reused on social media was first posted months before the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict. Neither the footage nor the pre-war post said anything about Gaza. The claim appeared in…

Does the listing of "Pneumonia mycoplasma" in Pfizer's guidance on adverse event reports associated with its COVID-19 vaccine prove that the shot caused a respiratory outbreak in China? No, that's not true: It's a fundamental misreading of standard vaccine documents, which direct doctors to rapidly report any problems from a long list as a precaution. The Centers for Disease Control…

Were reports that talk about a supposed imminent "EMP Threat" or "Blackout Warfare" against the U.S. "leaked" from the Department of Homeland Security, and were these documents "classified" in any way? No, that's not true: The reports that are sometimes used on social media to promote a documentary by Teddy Daniels are publicly available and easily accessible on the internet.…

Was Donald Trump's real voice used in a video endorsing a documentary warning that 300 million Americans will die in an attack on the power grid in a matter of weeks? No, that's not true: There is no proof that Trump ever made the statements in the video. A search of Trump's campaign website and of Google's index of thousands…

Does a video on social media show President Joe Biden speaking very slowly and haltingly about the powerful drug fentanyl? No, that's not true: The video in a viral Instagram post has been digitally edited. In the real, extended video, Biden speaks at a natural pace on various topics at a press conference during the U.S.-China summit in November 2023.…

Was an American soldier holding a "China flag" when President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California unusual or a breach of protocol as implied by a tweet from Graham Allen? No, that's not true: A State Department spokesperson told Lead Stories that anytime a foreign leader is hosted in the United States, a member of the…