Ufo

Does a photo show President Joe Biden sporting a red "Make America Great Again" baseball cap during his meeting with incoming President Donald Trump at the White House? No, that's not true: Media coverage of the meeting shows that the two men were wearing different clothing than what's seen in the photo. Online image-analysis tools found substantial evidence that the…

Did tech billionaire Elon Musk unveil a "UFO fighter jet" named Ethereon in mid-November 2024? No, that's not true: Neither Musk, nor his company SpaceX, nor credible news organizations said anything about the development of such a spacecraft. The photos of Musk at the launch pad in the posts spreading the rumor were AI-manufactured. The claim appeared in a post…

Is an image of a catastrophic plane crash on a bridge authentic? No, that's not true: The image is a digital art creation by Canadian graphic designer Steve McGhee. The original piece of art titled "All Is Lost - Redux" was altered to make it harder to trace its origin through a reverse image search. The claim appeared in a…

Was a "ritual" tape showing actor Will Smith and rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs having sex leaked in September 2024? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that a sex tape of Smith and Diddy exists. The post that made this claim offered no proof that it does. No actual news websites have published anything about a leaked tape showing…

Does a video showing a light-filled cloud "drilling through the firmament" show an authentic UFO? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that this footage exists outside of a few social media posts. The user who originally uploaded this video has posted made-up content before and describes himself as a "Digital creator". The claim appeared in a video (archived…

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…

Is a social media post saying that a girl "approximately 3 years old" was found by "Deputy Amy Braidley" authentic? No, that's not true: This is a bait-and-switch post that sends readers to a real estate ad. Lead Stories has previously debunked similar posts with a 3-year-old being found in different locations across the country, each time by a deputy…

Did the Toronto Star, BBC and other major media cover a scandal involving Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh that supposedly "erupted" after he left his microphone on while on TV? No, that's not true: Searches for coverage of this supposed money-making scandal on these news sites led to no results. The post on X that said this linked to a fake…

Do images shared on Facebook genuinely show what appears to be a UFO in the "remote desert of Egypt"? No, that's not true: Hive Moderation, an online tool used to detect AI-generated images, confirmed that it was 99.6 percent likely the images were created using AI. They were first published to a Reddit thread about content generated using the AI…

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.…