Health

Do Canadian researchers propose to mass-vaccinate people with crop duster-style spraying of the populace, as a social media post implies? No, that's not true: The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) have paid researchers to develop a needle-free inhaler to inoculate people one at a time against the virus that causes COVID-19. The post that pushes the crop duster idea…

Does a viral image showing "17-year-old Rowan Atkinson ... studying electrical engineering at Newcastle University" authentically portray the British comedian best known for playing Mr. Bean? No, that's not true: The image was AI generated. It was identified as such by Google, and Lead Stories' manual review of the picture confirmed that. The claim appeared in a post (archived here)…

Did politician Matt Gaetz post on X about "momentary lapses of judgement from decades ago" in relation to "prepubescent girls" and the "Epstein files"? No, that's not true: A viral screenshot of such a post originated on a Reddit subforum ironically named "TOTALLYREALTWEETS". It was posted by a user whose bio read "fake tweet writer" and the text in the…

Did a widely-shared video authentically show Liberian President Joseph Boakai attacking the "racially prejudiced attitude" of his American counterpart Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The video included fake audio, likely the product of AI. The underlying footage of Boakai was in fact recorded in 2017. The video appeared in a July 10, 2025, post on TikTok (archived here) with…

Did an X post by podcaster Alec Lace imply the life of Democrats is "at stake" if they vote against Republicans or MAGA? No, that's taken out of context: It originally quoted one of his own posts speculating that the murder of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman was to be blamed on "her base" becoming "unhinged" after she voted a…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump propose a bill that bans all lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, from re-entering the U.S., if they leave? No, that's not true: As of June 11, 2025, Lead Stories found no such bill on the website of Congress. An earlier June 2025 White House proclamation about new travel restrictions did not…

Did President Trump reshare a Truth Social post that claims Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced with "clones doubles & robotic engineered souless mindless entities"? Yes, he did: Trump's Truth Social timeline showed the post was shared by the president at 7:06 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, 2025. The post was still active at the time of writing…

Did actor Morgan Freeman "mercilessly" lecture White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on the topics of racism and inequality on live TV? No, that's not true: The story about the fictional TV-studio encounter was published by an anonymously registered website that listed no authors or publishers. Despite claims the encounter caused "a storm on social media" no actual media reported…

Does the German government publish a sexual education website that includes a cartoon panel saying "Most German men will be happy to have gay sex with immigrants"? No, that's not true: The phrase doesn't appear on the German sex education site. The version circulating on X.com is a doctored version of an infographic used in multiple countries. The panel appearing…

Did a viral video really show Pope Leo XIV publicly criticizing JD Vance for his reaction to former President Joe Biden's cancer announcement? No, that's not true: The clip used AI-generated sound to make it appear the Pope scolded Vance for attacking Biden with "cold, calculated words" and lacking "human compassion". No actual news websites reported that the Pope publicly…