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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 a World Economic Forum report confirm that upwards of 6 billion people of Earth's 8 billion occupants will die in 2025, as online outlet The People's Voice said? No, that's not true: the only "report" cited by The People's Voice to support that statement is an old population-reduction prediction of a much smaller size by a website named Deagel.com…

Was Thomas Jolly, "the artist who created the Olympics opening ceremony," hospitalized after being hit by lightning? No, that's not true: The viral claim was based on a fake screenshot of a nonexistent AP article. Lead Stories found no actual news reports or any evidence that such a lightning strike happened. The claim appeared in a reel on Facebook on…

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…

Are two images of a scantly clad woman genuine old photos of Vice President Kamala Harris, suggesting she was a sex worker in the past? No, that's not true: Harris began her professional career working in California legal offices. Inconsistencies in fingers, shadows and backgrounds in the photos are telltale signs of AI origin. The images only appeared online after…

Did the World Economic Forum develop a treaty including "pedophiles" in the "legally protected minority" category? No, that's not true: The site that posted the claim included a disclaimer that it makes "NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ... ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION ... CONTAINED ON THE SITE." Lead Stories found no evidence such a treaty ever existed. The publications boosting the…

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…

Did Secret Service personnel grin widely, showing their teeth, while escorting former President Trump to safety after the assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, as a social media post claims? No, that's not true: A tool created to detect ai-generated images found substantial evidence the image had been remade with generative ai systems.…

Did World Economic Forum Founder Klaus Schwab say that "humanity needs to be 'forced into a collaboration' with globalist entities"? No, that's not true: Even the recordings of Schwab's speech shared by accounts posting this claim on the internet did not support this interpretation. Speaking in China on June 25, 2025, he used the verb "foster" while talking about collaboration…