Newspunch

Is Hungary preparing to prosecute "lifelong Nazi" George Soros? No, that's not true: The claim, posted by a prolific publisher of fake news, is based on a single anonymous source. It repeats the oft-debunked claim that financier and philanthropist Soros was a Nazi. In fact, Soros, who is Jewish, lived through the Nazi occupation of Hungary in 1944-45, when he…

Was an arrest warrant for Bill Gates issued by the "Heinous Crimes Court" in the Philippines for "premeditated murder" linked to vaccine roll out? No, that's not true: A legal expert told Lead Stories, "Philippine courts do not have the authority to issue international arrest warrants under the Philippines Rules of Criminal Procedure." The expert says there's no such entity…

Does a report assessing the safety of a plant-based meat product made by a company in which Bill Gates has invested prove that meat grown in a laboratory causes cancer in humans? No, that's not true: Since the report doesn't even consider lab-grown meat, it can't prove it's carcinogenic when eaten by people because the two products are not the…

Did Pope Francis say that pedophiles have a special place in heaven? No, that's not true: There is no record of Pope Francis saying that, as an article in NewsPunch claims. Other quotes in this article are real quotes from the pope that were taken out of context and their meaning reversed. The article was published by NewsPunch on February…

Did the Centers for Disease Control change the level of exposure considered lethal for vinyl chloride from 100 parts per million to 100,000 parts per million shortly before the February 3, 2023 train derailment and vinyl chloride spill near East Palestine, Ohio? Was this change the first such revision "since 1987"? No, that's not true: Vinyl chloride's toxicity profile on…

Was the "REAL" Epstein list leaked on the dark web? No, that's not true: The article that made the claim in the headline offered no evidence and zero proof in the body of the story that a list belonging to convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein was found on the dark web. A list on the dark web was not mentioned once…

Did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton state that cash should be banned to combat climate change? No, that's not true: Clinton never made such an assertion during a speech in Gujarat, India, and Lead Stories has not found any proof that she has ever publicly made such a statement. The claim originated from an article (archived here) published by…

Did the government of Thailand announce plans to cancel COVID-19 vaccine contracts with Pfizer-BioNTech after a suspected connection between the Pfizer vaccine and Princess Bajrakitiyabha's December 2022 collapse was established? No, that's not true: An official from Thailand's National Vaccine Institute told the Associated Press on February 7, 2023, that the country does not intend to reconsider its contract with…

Did celebrities call for a "total Hollywood strike" until everyone is vaccinated against COVID-19? No, that's not true: The claim, posted by a prolific publisher of fake news, is based on a fake tweet purportedly from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. An Academy representative told Lead Stories it is not their tweet. The claim appeared in an…

Did the U.S. government say that 5G causes COVID-19? No, that's not true: The study cited by the article making the claim was retracted several years earlier. The Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents made the retraction following "a thorough investigation ... as it showed evidence of substantial manipulation of the peer review." The claim appeared in an article…