Newspunch

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 No, that's not true: The study cited by the article making the claim was retracted several years earlier.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…

Did scientists warn that eggs are causing thousands of people to "suddenly" form blood clots? No, that's not true: The 2017 study by Cleveland Clinic researchers that is supposed to support this assertion makes no such connection. The medical center said, "The online article [making this claim] does not accurately represent the findings of our 2017 research." The claim appeared…

Did the German government claim that investigating COVID vaccines would be "dangerous for democracy"? No, that's not true: Alena Buyx, who is not in the German government, did not claim that such investigations would be a threat to democracy. She is a German medical ethicist who since 2020 has been chair of the German Ethics Council, an independent group of…

Did the chief of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) call for an immediate end to COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: The head of the FDA is Dr. Robert M. Califf and he is not mentioned in the article where the claim appears. The story instead refers to Dr. Paul Offit, who is a member of the FDA's vaccine…

Did Microsoft founder Bill Gates tweet about forcing COVID-19 vaccinations on people by injecting mRNA into their food supply? No, that's not true: A search of Gates' Twitter account reveals the tweet is fake. The claim appeared in an article published by NewsPunch on January 10, 2023, titled "Bill Gates Vows To Pump mRNA Into Food Supply To 'Force-Jab' the…

Did Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), ban "vaccinated pilots from transporting World Economic Forum members in and out of Davos due to the safety risk they pose"? No, there's no evidence that's true: The supposed source for the claim denies that he said the WEF had reached out looking for unvaccinated pilots. He…

Did "adverse vaccine reaction" become the leading cause of U.S. deaths in 2021 and 2022? No, that's not true: Adverse vaccine reactions are not a categorical cause of death tracked by health officials. Also, the vaccination status and records of deceased individuals are not tracked. In both 2021 and 2022, experts told Lead Stories that the leading cause of death…