Fema

Does a viral video show a child trafficker caught while driving a sedan with 25 children in Uzbekistan? No, that's not true: According to local law enforcement and local news reports, the reason for the traffic stop was unsafe driving, not a suspicion of kidnapping, child enslavement or involvement in some black market medical deals. An academician with knowledge of…

Did U.S. Marines "kick ... out" the Federal Emergency Management Agency from Tennessee following a disaster recent as of December 21, 2023? No, that's not true: A FEMA representative told Lead Stories, "FEMA teams are on the ground in Tennessee working with state and local officials in assisting those in need after the tornado of December 9th." The claim appeared…

Did Lia Thomas decide to swim with a men's team after facing "extreme criticism" for transitioning and swimming with female teams? No, that's not true: This claim about the transgender woman swimmer comes from a satirical website that has a history of fabricating content surrounding popular topics. The site says in its About section that it brings "the freshest fake…

Was Taylor Swift photographed wearing a hat made of pieced-together preserved faces skinned from real human beings? No, that's not true on two points: The model in the photo is not pop star Swift but the special effects artist who partnered in making the hat, Kayla Arena. And the hat is made from latex, silicone, crepe hair and synthetic eyelashes…

Does a video of a man, described in a news report as a militant, show a staged arrest on the Gaza border because he is first seen blindfolded and in his underwear, then apparently putting his pants back on with no blindfold? No, that's not true: While social media accounts did not alter the Fox News footage compared to the…

Did VG, a Norwegian newspaper, report that the average age of Palestinians killed in Gaza was 5 years old, as claimed by an image on social media? No, that's not true: The newspaper reported that 5-year-olds represented the age group with the highest number of people killed in Gaza between October 7 and October 26, 2023. Taking the largest age…

Does a video show Apeel coating applied to a cabbage? No, that's not true: The cabbage in the video is not real, and it's not meant to be eaten. The footage shows a way to make food samples for display, and it's from Japan, not the United States. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Instagram on October…

Does a video on social media prove that the United Nations "is setting up shop" in the United States in 2023 to plot for a "take over" scheduled to take place "when WW3 is declared"? No, that's not true: This years-old claim was refuted by a U.S. State Department representative in 2016. He said that the U.N. vehicles seen in…

Did a social media video document an aircraft releasing a swarm of mosquitoes over Los Angeles in October 2023? No, that's not true: Los Angeles' vector control districts, responsible for pest eradication, said there have been no known airborne releases of mosquitoes over the city in October 2023. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food…

Does a video show displaced Palestinian people who had no place to go sleeping outdoors on the ground? No, that's not true: The video was filmed in early August 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, during World Youth Day, an international Catholic pilgrimage and gathering with the pope. The video is unrelated to the Hamas-Israel conflict and Israel's October 13, 2023, evacuation…