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Did a large drone crash in New York City on Christmas Eve 2024 as claimed by a video posted on X? No, that's not true: There are several clues in the video that point to it being AI-generated and the account that posted it published several other similarly themed videos around the same time. True Media, an online AI detection…

Does a video captured by a New Jersey resident show a drone spraying something in the sky? No, that's not true: The video showed a commercial Boeing 777 jetliner gradually descending as it nears the end of a transatlantic flight from London to Baltimore. Lead Stories cross-referenced the timestamp and location tag from the original video with flight and weather…

Did "leaked reports" say George Soros paid ABC moderators $1 million each to fact check Donald Trump during the September 10, 2024, presidential debate? No, that's not true: The story came from a website whose satire disclaimer reads: "These articles are meant to be humorous and are often entirely made up." No credible evidence of "leaked reports" or such payments…

Does footage of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's first flight actually show the desert landscape of Algeria and not Mars in the background? No, that's not true: Footage of the takeoff and landing of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, posted on YouTube by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, does not show the same scenery as pictured in an Instagram post. The real footage…

Did the state of Minnesota enact a policy that put tampons in "10 year old boys bathrooms" while Tim Walz was governor? No, that's not true: The Minnesota statute does not mention boys-only bathrooms, and school districts said free menstrual products go to female-only and designated gender-neutral bathrooms. The state Department of Education said they haven't told any schools to…

Did data from December 2023 show that Arctic sea ice had soared to its "highest level for 21 years," thus disproving global warming and climate change? No, that's not true: The blog that made this claim cherry-picked genuine data, a senior research scientist told Lead Stories. While it is true that the total area of the Arctic Ocean covered by…

Does a video on social media show what it looked like when a pilot accidentally hit the "chemtrail switch" too early while taking off in -45 degrees Celsius in Siberia? No, that's not true: The false caption poking fun at chemtrail conspiracists originated with an r/aviation forum Reddit repost with a satire tag. This video, originally posted in 2012 by…

Does satellite imagery show the moments when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was surrounded by three circling UFOs before suddenly vanishing in a bright flash of light? No, that's not true: This video does not show satellite imagery or the actual disappearance of Flight 370. The images of the clouds came from a website that supplies background images for 3D artists.…

Did authentic social media posts offer genuine concern over a missing teen named Kaniesa Perez? No, that's not true: The posts exploit a real missing teen story and falsely say that Kaniesa Perez went missing on the same day from Dover, Pennsylvania, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, among other locations more than a thousand miles apart. In reality, the teen went…

Does a video compilation of clips showing extreme weather include authentic footage of Hurricane Beryl striking Cancun, Mexico, on July 5, 2024? No, there's no evidence that's true: At least two of the clips were available online before the hurricane formed. This means they could not possibly depict Hurricane Beryl. The claim appeared in a post on Facebook Reels on…