Qanon

Did U.S. Marines arrest former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that the claim is false. The claim appears in an article on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on January 23, 2024, titled "Marines Arrest…

Did the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps sentence Arati Prabhakar to death at a Guantanamo Bay military tribunal on January 16, 2024, for committing treason? No, that's not true: Prabhakar, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, has made a public appearance following the purported date of conviction, and she did not appear to…

Did comedian Ellen DeGeneres and actor Tom Hanks pledge to move abroad if Donald Trump is elected president in 2024? No, that's not true: No credible news outlets have reported that. The claim was promoted, among others, by an online store selling T-shirts, a meme website and a parody account -- not by the official websites or social media accounts…

Does a viral video show a hidden underground route used for "trafficking"? No, that's not true: The video shows an old, now-defunct salt mine in Romania. It's open to the public and functions as a museum. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on TikTok on March 16, 2023. The text overlay read: go do y'all's research on these…

Does a social media post accurately summarize the events portrayed in an episode of "The Simpsons" -- that a solar superstorm struck Springfield, causing an electromagnetic pulse that led to a complete shutdown of the town and internet access? No, that's not true: The 2013 Simpsons episode mentioned in the social media post -- Episode Nine of Season 24 --…

Did Marines arrest on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, a Colorado Supreme Court justice, Monica Marquez, who voted in favor of removing Donald Trump from the state's 2024 presidential primary ballot? No, that's not true: This is a fake news article from a website that carries a disclaimer that they publish humor, parody, and satire. The article riffs on the real…

Does a viral video show proof that the U.S. national debt was paid off in 2017? No, that's not true: The U.S. Treasury website shows the current U.S. national debt, which is about $33.7 trillion, a number accepted by U.S. financial markets, independent economists and the Federal Reserve Bank. The video relies on paperwork that has nothing to do with…

Is a video of jets surrounding Donald Trump's jet real? No, that's not true: The video that appeared in a viral X post is from a video game. A YouTube video with the same footage has "#flightsim" and the acronym to a flight simulation video game in the description. A TikTok video with the same footage also has the same…

Is the United States "currently under a military occupancy" as of September 24, 2023, as proven by "bipartisan legislation"? No, that's not true: The claim cites unrelated materials that do not confirm the statement in question. The rumor appears to stem from a debunked QAnon conspiracy theory. The story originated from a video published on Facebook on September 24, 2023,…

Are all lakes man-made to cover up ruins of an ancient civilization? No, that's not true: While there are some man-made lakes, ponds and reservoirs, lakes are also naturally formed features created over time through several geological processes, including glacial runoff, river erosion, volcanic activity and groundwater changes. The basis of the claim that "all lakes are man-made" stems from…