Election

Does a viral photo accurately portray Argentinian President Javier Milei's sister Karina Milei? No, that's not true: The image has been heavily edited to completely change her face. The original image was taken in 2023 and shows completely different facial features, notably the eyes, nose and mouth. An example of the image appeared in a post on X (archived here)…

Do viral clips circulating on social media prove that AfD is missing on the authentic ballots in the city of Leipzig, Germany? No, that's not true: The publicly available sample ballot still listed AfD the day the claim began to spread. A press release from Leipzig authorities described what the videos showed as "fake ballots" and ruled out printing errors.…

Did Germans students participating in a mock federal election known as U18, for people under 18, overwhelmingly vote for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, resulting in a sweep by a "massive majority" in every polling district? No, that's not true: A graph shared on social media shows the results of one polling place. While the AfD did win…

Does Jasmine Crockett, a U.S. congresswoman from Texas, have a net worth of $9 million and own properties worth $5 million? No, that's not true: Her latest financial disclosure report shows that her net worth is somewhere between -$46,997 and $29,999. Crockett said that a post claiming she was worth millions was "a lie", describing the story as "outlandish." The…

Did a January 6 "insurrectionist" who had been pardoned by President Donald Trump accidentally burn down his own house during the Super Bowl after he lit a pile of his teen daughter's Taylor Swift shirts on fire? No, that's not true: This is a made-up story published by an account that describes itself as "Dada news. Halfway true comedy and…

Did a study published in January 2025 definitively establish a link between Ozempic and blindness, as was implied in a post on X? No, that's not true: The study was a small observational analysis of just nine patients that did not establish that the weight-loss drug caused blindness but instead found an association between the two. In other words, it…

Did an executive order signed by President Donald Trump reverse "the plastic straw ban"? No, that's not true: No such national "ban" was enacted by Congress. Trump's order counters policies of former President Joe Biden aimed at gradually phasing out single-use plastic items in the future, which affected only the operations of federal agencies. While some localities do have restrictions…

Did the Federal Emergency Management Agency fraudulently send $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to "house illegal migrants"? It's complicated: A New York City Hall spokesperson told Lead Stories that New York "never paid luxury-hotel rates" and that about a third of the $59 million -- around $19 million -- covered "direct hotel costs." A Department of…

Is Walmart decreasing its food prices "back to pre-inflation rates" within one month of President Donald Trump's January 20, 2025, inauguration? No, that's not true: Walmart told Lead Stories that this assertion is false. In an email, the company wrote that "this announcement is not accurate." The claim appeared in a post on Facebook on February 3, 2025, (archived here)…

Did Denmark announce a "500% tariff on exports of Ozempic to the USA" in January 2025? No, that's not true: The claim derived from a parody post on LinkedIn that was not labeled as such. There was no such announcement on Danish government websites and no media outlets indexed by Google News reported on any such story. The claim originated…