Fema

Did Alexi Navalny's mother Lyudmila publicly accuse the politician's widow Yulia Navalnaya of capitalizing on her son's death? No, that's not true: The purported "address" is an AI-generated fake. Its origin can be traced to a network of Kremlin state-funded propaganda resources. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on February 22, 2024.…

Is Angela Merkel the daughter of Adolf Hitler? No, that's not true: Merkel, the former German chancellor, was born in 1954 in Hamburg, West Germany. Hitler died on April 30, 1945, almost a decade before Merkel was born. Merkel's parents were Horst and Herlind Kasner, as her biography on Britannica states. Hitler had no children and only married Eva Braun…

Did the Indiana Department of Child Services remove a child from their home because the parents refused to call them by their preferred pronouns, as a social media post suggests? No, that's not true: The complex situation outlined in Indiana court documents state that the child's removal from the home was not based on the fact that the parents did…

Did Google send out a notification that it would end Gmail service on August 1, 2024? No, that's not true: The company denied that, and no credible sources reported that the announcement in question has ever been made. Early posts about the end of Gmail came from accounts known for posting trolling content. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Was the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate Corps holding 345 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees at a U.S. Marine Corps Base in Hawaii as of February 2024? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. The claim appeared in an article on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in…

Does a video of minors in provocative clothes show an LGBT parade in Spain? No, that's not true: It was filmed at a carnival. The marchers' troupe aimed to satirize both the right and the left political parties, according to Spanish news coverage of the event. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter,…

Is an X post purportedly published by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro saying he believed Tracy Chapman stole the spotlight from Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards show real? No, that's not true: On February 7, 2024, Shapiro publicly debunked the post as fake from his verified X account. Before that, Shapiro had also posted a link to an article…

Did U.S. Marine Corps "white hats" arrest Federal Emergency Management Agency Regional Administrator Tony Robinson on February 2, 2024? No, that's not true: FEMA and Pentagon representatives confirmed to Lead Stories that this claim is false. This claim originated on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on February…

Did an immunologist accidentally admit that COVID-19 vaccines were intended to sterilize humans, as a video on Instagram implied? No, that's not true: Though the post included genuine footage, it lacked context that makes clear what was meant. Dr. John Bell's comments in an interview were about "sterilizing immunity", a public health term that refers to eradicating a virus from…

Does a picture on social media of a tiny skeleton found in Chile's Atacama Desert show an "alien creature from another planet"? No, that's not true: The skeleton in question has been extensively studied. Scientific analysis, including DNA testing, has determined that the mummified body is of human origin and likely represents the remains of a human female fetus with…