South Africa

Does a video shared on social media show Sudan Rapid Forces (SRF) troops in control of "Khartoum International Airport and Military base"? No, that's not true: The video appeared online three months before fighting broke in Sudan in mid-April 2023. Lead Stories geolocated the footage: It was recorded outside the airport in a park typically used for recreational purposes and…

Does the safety data sheet for Apeel, a protective coating for produce, contain "a long list of hazardous cautions" that make the product unsafe for human consumption? No, that's not true: The information in the claim comes from a cleaning product using the same name but made by another company. The cleaner and degreaser is not meant for human consumption.…

Does a photo show a sculpture named "Woman of our times" in Oxford, UK? No, that's not true: The artwork, which has a different name, has been displayed on streets of The Hague, Netherlands, since 2017. There is no evidence that it was relocated to Oxford. Also, the sculptor doesn't refer to the subject of this statue as a woman.…

Did the world suddenly stop having new COVID-19 variants after Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), retired at the end of 2022? No, that's not true: More than a year before his retirement, the most recent variant of COVID, Omicron, was identified in Botswana and South Africa. Many Omicron subvariants have…

Were Corn Flakes, the cereal product that launched the Kellogg Company, invented to "kill the libido" of patients at a health resort? No, that's not true: Several versions of the Kellogg Company's website attribute the creation of the cereal to an accident. Although John Harvey Kellogg, who is often credited as the creator of the cereal, was known for his…

Can simply answering three or four questions and paying a nominal handling fee qualify people to redeem tickets, receive expensive products, $500 or even $1,000 gift cards, store credit or compensation from well-known brands? No, that's not true: In the first quarter of 2023, Lead Stories tracked a large-scale phishing operation on Facebook that manipulatively tricks people into divulging personal…

Are transgender people and gender fluidity "products" of modern Western civilization? No, that's not true: Non-binary gender expression in many communities across the globe throughout history has been documented and researched. Professor Lisa Duggan told Lead Stories that even though people of earlier epochs did not necessarily conceptualize themselves through the optics of present-day terms, the phenomena are not modern…

Did Maxwell Chikumbutso, an inventor from Zimbabwe, develop a technology to turn radio frequencies into free, unlimited, green electricity that can power a car that never needs charging, a television or even a neighborhood? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Chikumbutso's inventions work as described. Although there have been public showcases of some of Chikumbutso's "microsonic energy…

Do NASA documents say that we live on a "flat, nonrotating earth"? No, that's not true: NASA does not believe in a flat-Earth theory of any kind. While the term "flat, nonrotating earth" does appear in NASA documents, it's not referring to the structure of the planet but instead citing mechanisms and assumptions used to analyze flight. In a February…

Was the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria on February 6, 2023, fake and actually a planned, politically motivated attack against the Kurdish people in the region? No, that's not true: Seismic activity recorded by earthquake monitors around the world have documented the quake and its numerous aftershocks. The claim appeared on TruthSocial on February 6,…