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Are videos of New York Police officers arresting or threatening to arrest ICE agents on the streets and in the subways of New York real? No, that's not true: A series of videos portraying confrontations between NYPD and ICE officers were created by OpenAI's SORA artificial intelligence app. Many of them can be traced to one content creator who posted…

When I received an invitation last month to come to Macedonia to talk with the fact checkers and journalists at the Metamorphosis Foundation about Lead Stories' experience with our automatically generated short-form fact checking videos, I didn't hesitate for a moment. Ever since 2019 when I wrote about a network of Macedonian fake news websites operating out of the town…

Did CNN refuse to talk about a viral video showing missile strikes on a "runner" near a church during the Obama administration? No, that's not true: The footage is from the video game "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare", which was released in 2007, well before Obama became President in 2009. CNN did write about the game at the time.…

Do leaked CCTV videos really show Israeli missiles striking Iranian missile bases? No, that's not true: Several clips in a viral video with that description contain several glitches typical of AI generated footage. It was published by an account that has posted AI-generated imagery in the past. One of the clips did originate with an Iranian TV station. The video…

Does a viral clip really show an oxygen tank and a patient on a gurney being sucked from a hallway straight into the bore of an MRI machine? No, that's not true: It's clearly labelled as having been created by Sora, the OpenAI-owned text-to-video tool. The video includes multiple glaring departures from reality: A marked exit door would not lead…

Has South Korea placed vending machines with free hot food near schools to fight childhood hunger? No, that's not true: There were no actual news articles about any such "food vending machines" seen in viral images on social media. South Korea does offer free lunches to all schoolchildren, but they include a variety of items cooked and served in school…

Did a trail camera capture footage of a still-missing three-year-old Jacob Riley walking with a pack of wolves just outside Blue Ridge? No, that's not true: This video was published by Blue Ridge Breaking News, which produces satire and parody content. A disclaimer on the Facebook page says, "We are a world-renowned satirical news organization bringing you the stories that…

Do Social Security cards contain a secret contract concealed in the fine print of the signature line? No, that's not true: The signature line on a Social Security card is a line of intaglio microtext which spells out the words "Social Security Administration". This is one of many anti-counterfeiting features included on the banknote paper of the Social Security card…

Did U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy say in a Fox News interview in November 2025 that "Pilots need to stop depending on air traffic controllers. They need to suck it up and go with their gut feelings"? No, that's not true: There is no video, documentation, or reporting to support the claim Duffy said this, but such a controversial statement…

Does real CCTV footage capture schoolchildren kneeling on prayer mats and repeating the Muslim declaration of faith, "Allahu Akbar", as viral social media posts claim? No, that's not true: The low-quality clip seemed to have been distorted to conceal the evidence it was AI-generated video. For example, the clip showed the instructor rising from her knees to sit on a…