Qanon

Was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley recently arrested? No, that's not true: Milley attended a press briefing after a video making this and other false claims appeared on a Facebook account that pretends to be from two QAnon influencers. The claim appeared in a video published on Facebook (archived here) by a "MEL K Charlie…

Did New Zealand female weightlifter Laurel Hubbard suffer from a testicular injury just weeks before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics? No, that's not true: the claim is lifted from from The Babylon Bee, a satirical website that writes about "Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life." The story, titled "Female Weightlifter Suffers Tragic Testicle Injury Just Weeks Before Tokyo Olympics," got…

Does a video show a "sleeve," or human body used for cloning? No, that's not true. The video was copied from promotion for the Netflix show Altered Carbon. This was a presentation the streaming service used to garner attention for the show in 2018 and is not photo documentation of Hollywood elites secretly cloning people, a variation on the QAnon…

Does a list of indictments, arrests and executions reveal a number of politicians, celebrities and royals who have been executed including Barack and Michelle Obama? No, that's not true. This list is completely false. It is part of the baseless and debunked QAnon conspiracy theory: that Donald Trump is fighting a secret international cabal of child sex predators made up…

Was former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta executed at the U.S. government's prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? No, that's not true: The claim is "false," the Department of Defense told Lead Stories. The claim was published without on-the-record attribution to knowledgeable sources or any other evidence, and without specific disclaimers saying whether the article is fiction, parody…

Does the latest "X22 Report" video contain only true and accurate claims? No, that's not true: The video recycles falsehoods circulated by QAnon conspiracy theorists and contradicted by credible publicly available documentation. Among the debunked claims are that the 2020 election was rigged, that Donald Trump won in a landslide and that hydroxychloroquine and zinc are a cure for COVID-19.…

Does a video prove that "final moves against the deep state" are happening now? No, that's not true: Many of the conspiracy theories claimed in the video are false. Donald Trump is not still president or "in charge," the London 2012 Olympics did not foreshadow the coronavirus outbreak and John McCain and George H.W. Bush were not found guilty by…

Did Pope Francis die in mid-April 2021 and did a leading American conspiracy theorist break the "news"? No, that's not true: The pope made several public appearances that offer proof of life and Lin Wood's off-the-cuff comment was a question, not a declaration. The claim that Wood had revealed the pope's death circulated on numerous QAnon-linked websites and social media…

Does the film "Out of Shadows" prove a child-raping satanic cult controls the U.S. government and Hollywood, and operated out of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor? No, that's not true: The film declares that the lid came off in a leading Democrat's leaked emails, in which "pizza" is used as secret code for child sex. But the filmmakers provide nothing…

Was Hillary Clinton convicted by a military tribunal on April 16, 2021? No, that's not true. "The story is false," the Defense Department press operations duty officer told Lead Stories via email on April 16, 2021.There is no military tribunal or trial being held where the former secretary of state is being prosecuted for crimes at the Guantanamo Bay Prison.…