Election Disinformation

Did Mexico's President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum hold up a menorah while making a speech? No, that's not true: The photo of Sheinbaum on X that shows her doing this has been edited. In the original photo, which dates back to 2017, her fist is raised high in the air, but she does not hold a menorah and is not wearing large…

When former President Barack Obama described a metaphorical plan in 2022 to "flood" the public square with "raw sewage," did he present it as either his own or as that of the Democratic Party? No, that's not true: He was describing how propaganda works, not what he or the party was planning to do. He said this in a speech…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin say at a "military press conference in Russia" that the U.S. was planning to launch a second pandemic "aimed at disrupting the 2024 election" domestically? No, that's not true: Neither a viral AI-generated article making the claim nor earlier pieces speculating about it offered any proof that Putin actually said that. Lead Stories searched both…

Is the 2020 presidential election tally in Fulton County, Georgia invalid on account of 300,000 missing ballot images? No, that's not true: The original paper ballots still exist and it's important to understand that the ballot image is not the vote but merely an electronic picture of the ballot for review purposes. Georgia election officials recounted the vote, including counting…

by: Ed Payne and Alexis Tereszcuk Does a 32-page report shared online in January of 2023 provide proof of widespread 2020 election fraud in five swing states? No, that's not true: The report lacks credible nonpartisan documentation or verifiable data that would substantiate such a sweeping assertion. It promotes a repeatedly disproven assertion that "hundreds of thousands of votes were…

Did Fulton County, Georgia, count 20,713 votes that did not exist in the 2020 election and that there are "no records" for, such as poll tapes? No, that's not true: An election-watchdog expert said that claiming votes are missing because of missing poll tapes is "like telling me my house doesn't exist unless I can find all the bank documents."…

Do several videos shared on social media in October 2023 genuinely show combat footage from the military conflict between Israel and Hamas? No, that's not true: A reverse image search revealed that one such clip originated from the combat video game Arma 3. Several other similar clips are making the rounds often posted by accounts looking to monetize views and…

Did the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) reveal in August 2023 that the wildfires in Hawaii were caused by a "weather weapon" developed by the U.S. government? No, that's not true: The claim is part of a Chinese disinformation campaign. Additionally, there is no credible information or evidence to suggest that the wildfires in Hawaii were caused by such a…

Did Fox News report that California's Gavin Newsom is the first governor to call for a bill to remove Donald Trump from the ballot in his state? No, that's not true: "The Governor did not say this," Newsom's spokesperson told Lead Stories. And there is no evidence Fox News reported that the Democratic governor was the first to say there…

Does a post show "new video evidence" of Maricopa County election officials breaking into sealed election machines? No, that's not true: The "new" video is a recording of a 2022 public live stream of the Maricopa County, Arizona, election headquarters where workers were installing new memory cards into the ballot tabulators prior to the November 2022 election, the spokesperson for…