Newspunch

Did Pope Francis say that pedophiles have a special place in heaven? No, that's not true: There is no record of Pope Francis saying that, as an article in NewsPunch claims. Other quotes in this article are real quotes from the pope that were taken out of context and their meaning reversed. The article was published by NewsPunch on February…

Did the Centers for Disease Control change the level of exposure considered lethal for vinyl chloride from 100 parts per million to 100,000 parts per million shortly before the February 3, 2023 train derailment and vinyl chloride spill near East Palestine, Ohio? Was this change the first such revision "since 1987"? No, that's not true: Vinyl chloride's toxicity profile on…

Was the "REAL" Epstein list leaked on the dark web? No, that's not true: The article that made the claim in the headline offered no evidence and zero proof in the body of the story that a list belonging to convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein was found on the dark web. A list on the dark web was not mentioned once…

Did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton state that cash should be banned to combat climate change? No, that's not true: Clinton never made such an assertion during a speech in Gujarat, India, and Lead Stories has not found any proof that she has ever publicly made such a statement. The claim originated from an article (archived here) published by…

Did the government of Thailand announce plans to cancel COVID-19 vaccine contracts with Pfizer-BioNTech after a suspected connection between the Pfizer vaccine and Princess Bajrakitiyabha's December 2022 collapse was established? No, that's not true: An official from Thailand's National Vaccine Institute told the Associated Press on February 7, 2023, that the country does not intend to reconsider its contract with…

Did celebrities call for a "total Hollywood strike" until everyone is vaccinated against COVID-19? No, that's not true: The claim, posted by a prolific publisher of fake news, is based on a fake tweet purportedly from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. An Academy representative told Lead Stories it is not their tweet. The claim appeared in an…

Did the U.S. government say that 5G causes COVID-19? No, that's not true: The study cited by the article making the claim was retracted several years earlier. The Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents made the retraction following "a thorough investigation ... as it showed evidence of substantial manipulation of the peer review." The claim appeared in an article…

Did scientists warn that eggs are causing thousands of people to "suddenly" form blood clots? No, that's not true: The 2017 study by Cleveland Clinic researchers that is supposed to support this assertion makes no such connection. The medical center said, "The online article [making this claim] does not accurately represent the findings of our 2017 research." The claim appeared…

Did the German government claim that investigating COVID vaccines would be "dangerous for democracy"? No, that's not true: Alena Buyx, who is not in the German government, did not claim that such investigations would be a threat to democracy. She is a German medical ethicist who since 2020 has been chair of the German Ethics Council, an independent group of…

Did the chief of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) call for an immediate end to COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: The head of the FDA is Dr. Robert M. Califf and he is not mentioned in the article where the claim appears. The story instead refers to Dr. Paul Offit, who is a member of the FDA's vaccine…