Election

Did French President Emmanuel Macron make a campaign promise that "Europe must be ready to accept up to 60 million refugees over the next 20 years from Africa and the Middle East"? No, that's not true: This is a fake tweet that is designed to look like a BBC News report from April 11, 2022. The BBC has confirmed this…

Did Google remove a blur on publicly available satellite maps that had previously obscured details of Russian military installations or high-security areas? Not according to Google: Claims posted on Twitter saying that the company had unblurred sensitive satellite imagery were countered by the official @GoogleMaps Twitter account, which said no blurring changes had been made to the satellite imagery in…

Did Russia issue an international arrest warrant for billionaires Jacob Rothschild and George Soros? No, that's not true: Variations of this hoax have circulated for years. While Russia banned two charities run by Soros in 2015, the Kremlin said an international arrest warrant was never sought for him. Lead Stories found no evidence of an arrest warrant ever being issued…

Did the "Bombshell" report published by Mike Lindell about Mesa County, Colorado, voting systems prove election machine manipulation? No, that's not true: The Colorado Secretary of State's Office, whose election security systems are called into question by the report, calls the analysis "unauthenticated hearsay." Independent of the state analysis, election and cybersecurity experts who reviewed Lindell's "Bombshell" report for Lead…

Did NPR publish an article on the morning of January 6, 2021, about Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol and clashing with police before any clashes with police had occurred? No, that's not true: This intentionally deceptive post focuses on the National Public Radio article's original publication timestamp while cropping off the well-marked notice that the article had been updated…

Does a video show a Ukrainian press conference about President Joe Biden amid Russia's invasion of the country? No, that's not true: The video is from 2020 and includes footage of a press conference with a Ukrainian lawmaker who has been described by U.S. officials as an "active Russian agent." In the video he is sharing a recording of Biden's…

Is the relatively high number of registrations on November 2 and November 3, 2020, evidence of voter fraud in Michigan? No, that's not true: On Election Day alone, close to 32,000 people registered to vote in Michigan, according to officials. A spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state told Lead Stories that the registrations were legal and due to the…

Did Queen Elizabeth pass away as reported by Hollywood Unlocked? No, that's not true: This is a baseless claim from one American entertainment blog that was published two days after Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II had tested positive for COVID-19 and that she was "experiencing mild, coldlike symptoms." A plan called "Operation London Bridge" has been in place…

Is there "shocking evidence of widespread fraud" in Wisconsin's voter database? No, that's not true: Responding to a slew of allegations, Wisconsin election officials pointed out that lists of inactive voters - who are not on poll books and cannot vote - were used to inflate claims about illegal voters. Another "fraud" example was easily explained by simply looking up…