Corrections

Are vaccines proven ineffective by a U.K. report published in February 2023, which found that 92 percent of "deaths involving COVID-19" occurred in fully vaccinated individuals? No, that's not true: Implying causality from a limited set of data leaves out consequential variables such as the ages of the dead, other underlying diseases, and whether booster recommendations had been followed. While…

Does a picture circulating on social media prove that Pfizer has a patent "for tracking vaccinated humans worldwide via microwave and graphene"? No, that's not true: The pictured document is not a Pfizer patent and it does not mention graphene or microwaves. Pfizer's office of media relations confirmed to Lead Stories that Pfizer has nothing to do with the patent,…

Did nearly a quarter of a million voting attempts fail in the November 8, 2022, election in Arizona and did that impact the vote count? No, that's not true: The communications director for the Maricopa County Elections Department called the allegation "textbook disinformation." While many ballots were scanned and rescanned multiple times, the votes were ultimately counted. Arizona Secretary of…

Has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded more than 16,000 people who have died within a few days of taking the COVID-19 vaccine where the deaths were proven to have been caused by the vaccine? No, that's not true: Only nine deaths of some 18,500 preliminary reports of death have been causally associated with vaccination for coronavirus.…

Is the Maryland General Assembly "about to vote" on a controversial pregnancy "freedom" bill? Not exactly: Maryland legislators proposed the Pregnant Person's Freedom Act of 2022, which is in committee, but at the time of writing the bill is not undergoing a final vote, as implied by a social media post. The claim was implied in a Facebook post (archived…

Is this meme correct in saying COVID-19 is less deadly than what was known as Spanish flu a century ago, or current variants of seasonal flu? No, that is misleading: COVID-19 is killing more people annually than the seasonal flu did in the years prior to COVID and the CDC has declared COVID more deadly. A meme from mid-2020 going…

Did the head of a German hospital who committed suicide describe the COVID-19 vaccine as genocide and a crime against humanity? No, that's not true: Online publications reported unsubstantiated claims of a suicide note from the physician that said those things, but the claims were dismissed by German authorities, who investigated the death, and by municipal officials. The claims appeared…

Did Dr. Dan Stock present well-reasoned arguments to the Mt. Vernon, Indiana, school board against masking and vaccination as means to mitigate the spread and harm of COVID-19, and should his arguments apply universally as public health measures? No, that's not true: The arguments made by this doctor are a mixture of true, false and irrelevant and contradict the evolving…

Did six people in Pennsylvania die and then register and vote in the 2020 election? No evidence has been provided to back up that claim: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was quoted in the article as making the claim, did not respond to Lead Stories' request for evidence. The communications director with the Pennsylvania Department of State told Lead Stories…

Was corrupted voting system software used in Michigan to steal 6,000 votes from President Donald Trump and was that software also used in seven U.S. swing states? No, there is no evidence for the first claim, the second claim is false, while the third is true: According to the Michigan Department of State, there was no equipment or software malfunction.…

Are "murder hornets" the same insects as cicada killers and native to the United States? No, that's not true: murder hornets are Asian giant hornets and are new to North America. These newcomers apparently have not traveled beyond Washington state and Canada. A post (archived here) published on Facebook on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, correctly pointed out that there is…

Is it true that "thousands of doctors" say hydroxychloroquine "cures" COVID-19 patients," but the cure won't be valid until a major study is done? And is it true that once a vaccination against the novel coronavirus is manufactured, it will be quickly dispersed to health professionals for "immediate human injection" while studies about its safety and risks will come later.…

Is the U.S. government using the cover of the coronavirus pandemic to remove end-to-end encryption so officials would be able to listen to everyone's calls and see everyone's private messages? No, that does not appear to be the case: A controversial bill -- one that has been made public and is the subject of much attention and debate -- has…

Was President Trump correct in stating on Twitter that 17,000 people died during the swine flu, or H1N1, pandemic during 2009-2010? And does a second claim in the post -- that the Obamacare website cost $5 billion -- hold up to scrutiny? No, both allegations are misleading. Official government figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the…

Important Update: On April 13, 2020 Sanders formally endorsed Joe Biden. The below fact check was about a tweet sent on April 8, 2020 when no endorsement had been made yet. Has Bernie Sanders, who suspended his presidential campaign, already endorsed Joe Biden? No, as of early afternoon ET on April 8, 2020, this was not the case. Sanders, the…

(Editor's Note: This story has taken off the label "Fact Check" because there continues to be disagreement in the medical, scientific and political fields about the safety and wisdom of lifting lockdowns and restrictions.) Would allowing everyone, except the most vulnerable, to go on with their lives and forget about the lockdown put an end to the COVID-19 outbreak? No,…

Did film director John Singleton die after suffering a major stroke? No, that's not true: It is another celebrity death hoax taking advantage of a serious health crisis to generate web traffic. John Singleton, 51, is in a coma after suffering a stroke, but not dead, a source close to his family told Lead Stories Thursday night. (A family representative…

UPDATE: Joe Jackson passed away on June 27, 2018, four days after a hoax article prematurely announced his death. Joe Jackson Dead at 89 Joe Jackson -- the patriarch of the Jackson family -- has died ... TMZ has learned. Family sources tell TMZ, Joe passed away at 3:30 AM Wednesday in L.A. We broke the story ... Joe was…

Correction: A ballot measure "D" was actually passed with 75.94% in Oakland but it had nothing to do with hate crimes or undocumented persons. It read: Shall the measure, to protect and improve library services throughout Oakland, including: providing safe places for youth after school; preventing library closures; providing youth reading and senior programs, evening/weekend hours for students/families and adult…

Update: George H.W. Bush eventually did die at the age of 94 on December 1, 2018. Is former President George H.W. Bush dead again at 93? Nope, that's just a repeat from an older hoax run by a Ghana-based fake news network that was recently shut down after an investigation by Lead Stories. The new version of the hoax comes…