Sweden

Did Sweden launch a "surprise air strike" against Russia on May 3, 2023? No, that's not true: The claim comes from a clickbait video and is not supported by any other credible sources. The story originated from a post on Facebook on May 3, 2023. It included a video titled: Surprise Air Strike from Sweden- Russian warships were hunted down…

Does a social media video prove that the advent of radio wave and mobile phone technology ushered in flu, COVID and other viral outbreaks from the 1900s on? No, that's not true: The emergence of these viruses is a natural process and not caused by technology itself. In addition, the timeline provided in the social media video doesn't establish cause…

Was the devastating temblor that struck Turkey on February 6, 2023 actually a human-caused earthquake triggered by a weapon from an ionospheric research program called HAARP, in response to the Turkish president's move to block an expansion of NATO? No, that's not true: Experts that spoke to Lead Stories say the quake's occurrence is a natural event supported by scientific…

Does a new paper published in BMJ Medicine show that the COVID vaccine causes five times more myocarditis than the COVID virus and 10 times more in young people? No, that's not true: One of the study's authors told Lead Stories in a February 6, 2023, email that it's "an incorrect way to interpret our study." The paper only shows…

Does a background screening document prove that Hunter Biden paid his father, President Joe Biden, nearly $50,000 per month in rent to live in his father's Delaware home? No, that's not true: The amount listed on the form as "Monthly Rent" -- $49,910 -- matches what the younger Biden paid in quarterly rent for an office space in Washington, D.C.,…

Do health data from the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) show the more doses of COVID-19 vaccine a person has had, the more likely they are to end up in the intensive care unit (ICU)? No, that's not true: Health officials and medical experts contacted by Lead Stories said the figures do not take into account the number…

Do vaccines make people identify with a gender other than their gender assigned at birth by changing the composition of that person's DNA? No, that's not true: Vaccines do not change a person's DNA -- they provide immunity against diseases, an expert in genetics told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November 26, 2022. The post's…

Does use of birth control pills, classified by international cancer researchers as a Class 1 carcinogen, mean that a woman will develop cancer? No, that's not true: Decades of research show that oral contraceptives do not significantly increase the likelihood that women will develop certain cancers. The pills can, in fact, reduce the likelihood of other cancers. The claim about…

Do a video of a plane's contrails and websites about geoengineering prove that climate control spraying is taking place? No, that's not true: There is no large-scale atmospheric spraying taking place. The plane's contrails are made almost entirely of water vapor. The webpages shown, from Wikipedia and Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program, are real websites that review proposed scientific means…

Did a "whistleblower" physician provide evidence of chemtrails being sprayed from military airplanes? No, that's not true: While Dr. Bill Deagle called himself a "whistleblower on the inside," nothing ever came of his outlandish claims and he never presented any evidence to back them. Experts from several fields agree that there is no secret large-scale atmospheric program spraying "chemtrails." Contrails,…