Current Events

Does a picture show a Columbian fishing boat filled with cocaine before it was destroyed in the Caribbean Sea by the U.S. Naval Task Force in October 2025? No, that's not true: The photo is from a 2024 drug bust by Spanish forces that occurred 500 miles south of the Canary Islands. The story was reported in the news and…

Did Donald Trump make an all-caps post on Truth Social which said, "I'M NOT INCOMPITENT!!!!"? No, that's not true: A fake screenshot resurfaced on social media in Oct. 2025. The satirical screenshot had already circulated as early as June 2025. There is no record of this post originating from the verified account of Donald Trump. An early example of the…

Did Carlos Santana post on X.com that he asked Netflix to remove his scenes from a movie because he doesn't approve of LGBTQ-themed children's films on Netflix? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, there was no such post on Santana's account showing the musician told Netflix to remove him from a film project. Santana's official X.com account…

Is there a viral video clip in which Ivanka Trump calls Jasmine Crockett "ghetto trash" and did CeeDee Lamb or another athlete then calm things down with a quote about "tearing other people down"? No, that's not true: The story contained several verifiably false details and was promoted by a Facebook page managed from Poland, Vietnam and Brazil. Searches of…

Did MSNBC air old 2017 footage of a large crowd in Boston Common and misrepresent it as live footage of the Oct.2025 No Kings protest? No, that's not true: The footage shows the October 18, 2025 No Kings protest as it was taking place. The 2017 protest mentioned on social media took place in a different area of the Boston…

Is a viral story about Johnny Depp saying "I don't know who that is" about Charlie Kirk and the reactions to it real? No, that's not true: The article, which also has Depp saying he doesn't follow "men who shout for a living", originated on a Facebook pages and site run from Vietnam. There are no actual news reports of…

Did Vice President JD Vance write on his official X account that everyday Oval Office banter is worse than the leaked and criticized Young Republicans' Telegram jokes about Hitler, slavery, gas chambers and rape? No, that's not true: A viral image of the post attributed to Vance was not an authentic screenshot. It originated from a community on Reddit that…

Does a graph showing "loan locks" for non-permanent residents applying for FHA mortgages prove that immigrants overpaying for homes has inflated U.S. housing prices? No, that's not true: Non-permanent residents who applied for FHA loans were "not a major factor in the vast majority of local housing markets in the U.S.," according to a researcher with the company that produced…

Did the woman known as "Phillies Karen" file a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against Major League Baseball? No, that's not true: The page that originally posted the claim is a self described satire account. The woman who became infamous as "Phillies Karen" after she took a ball from a boy at a Philadelphia baseball game has not been publicly identified as of…

Did Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, or Turning Point USA file a $400 million lawsuit against investor and philanthropist George Soros over an alleged defamation campaign "to silence conservative voices and manipulate public perception"? No, that's not true: The claim originated from a satirical page that said explicitly that nothing it publishes is real. As of October 16, 2025, no credible…

Did Danica Patrick donate $7 million to the Turning Point USA Super Bowl halftime show? No, that's not true: There is no proof that the former NASCAR driver has donated $7 million to the show that Turning Point USA announced they would host as an alternative to the official 2026 Super Bowl halftime show starring Bad Bunny. Patrick is a…

Did Ozzy Osbourne's widow Sharon publicly announce a "$20 million pledge to the Charlie Kirk Memorial Fund"? No, that's not true: No news media reported it. Sharon Osbourne's account on Instagram didn't discuss it, either. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published on October 13, 2025, by thebeatles.vietut.com. It opened: BREAKING NEWS: Sharon Osbourne Stuns America with a…

Does evidence support a claim that Charlie Kirk murder investigators "confirmed" they found a bullet in Kirk's body and a second bullet at the scene of the shooting? No, that's not true: Investigators have made no such public disclosures ahead of the October 30, 2025 hearing scheduled in the case. The claim was published and promoted by a clickbait website…

Did Barron Trump drop out of New York University in the fall of 2025, as a viral social media post claimed? No, that's not true: The claim was made with no documentary, eyewitness or other evidence. The day before the post declared Barron had dropped out, Kai Trump, Barron's niece, posted a video in which President Trump said Barron was…

Did a woman arrive from Tokyo, Japan, at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City with a passport of a nonexistent country named "Torenza", as viral videos and text posts claim? No, that's not true: The viral videos reused old footage. It came from a TV show about airline workers that aired on cable in the U.S. in the…

Did Turning Point USA's Super Bowl halftime show sell out the Atlanta Braves stadium in three hours after it was announced that Kid Rock would be performing? No, that's not true: The story originated on a satirical Facebook page that clearly labels its content as fake. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing…

Did Elon Musk threaten to end his Super Bowl sponsorship if Bad Bunny performs at the halftime show? No, that's not true: Elon Musk does not sponsor the Super Bowl. The claim that he does and has threatened to end his sponsorship was published and promoted by a network of clickbait websites and Facebook page operated from Vietnam. The same…

Did the NFL announce the Super Bowl half time show will have a Charlie Kirk tribute including a performance by Brandon Lake? No, that's not true: A viral story making that claim was published by a foreign-run spam network with elements in Pakistan and Vietnam. The NFL did not make any such announcement. The news about the "announcement" appeared in…

Did ICE post an AI-generated image on its X account to make a point that it was not only protesters but also supporters who showed up in Portland, Oregon, in early October 2025? Here's what we know so far: Lead Stories asked, but ICE had not at the time of publication released to us the original image file. When ICE…

Is a viral post about the retirement of a Denver kindergarten teacher named Clara Holt illustrated with a photo of someone named Clara Holt? No, that's not true: The photo is copied from a BBC report about the reunion of students of Shirley Arnold, a primary school teacher in Kent, England. No Clara Holt appears on Colorado's list of certified…