Current Events

Did the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) report that Poles have started to rename their Wi-Fi networks to insult Ukrainian refugees in Poland? No, that's not true: Both DW and the Ukrainian government refuted the claim. A Lead Stories analysis indicates that the claim's list of supposed Wi-Fi networks may predate Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine that displaced…

Does a social-media video show a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "concentration camp" in Hawaii? No, this is not true: This video, according to a FEMA spokesperson, shows a project with which FEMA is not affiliated at all. The project built tiny homes for homeless and at-risk U.S. veterans. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook published…

Did New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker wear pink booty shorts at the Capitol after the Senate changed its dress code? No, that's not true: The account that posted the image of Booker in hot pink shorts is clearly labeled satire. It later posted a message calling out the fact that people were not getting the joke. The claim about Booker…

Do photos of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman show that he lost his forearm tattoos? No, that's not true: Two screenshots taken from videos of Fetterman reacting to a question in an animated manner do not show his tattoos, but the tattoos are visible in other frames of the same videos. This is due to the fact that human arms can…

Did an LED billboard at the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan feature the words "Glory to Urine" against a waving blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 19, 2023? No, that's not true: This video is not current or authentic. Shots…

Does a photo on social media prove that Ukraine's former minister of defense Oleksii Reznikov went to Europe to enjoy "successful earnings" right after leaving his job in September 2023? No, that's not true: Reznikov posted that image on his Facebook page in 2020. That was before he became the minister of defense, in November 2021. The claim originated from…

Does FEMA have a prison camp just outside Fairbanks, Alaska, that can hold up to 2 million people at a time? No, that's not true: "That is absolutely false," an official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told Lead Stories. The agency said they "do not operate any prison camps in Alaska or elsewhere." There is no credible evidence that…

Did former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley shed her birth name? No, that's not true: Haley, whose birth name is Nimrata (also spelled "Nimarata") Nikki Randhawa, has explained that the middle name on her birth certificate is "Nikki". Like other married women, she changed her last name when she married her husband Michael Haley. The claim…

Does a video on TikTok capture the moment of the F-35B crash in South Carolina on September 17, 2023? No, that's not true: the clip does not accurately portray the location. It was originally published by an account specializing in sharing "realistic" fragments from flight simulator video games. Its author confirmed to Lead Stories that the video was artificially generated.…

Does this video show "Tornado Daniel" hitting Benghazi, Libya? No, that's not true: This video is a combination of a Floridian storm setting with visual effects added. The buildings and fallen tree are from a tornado tracker's YouTube channel where they followed Hurricane Matthew in Florida in October 2016. The cone tornado shape and lightning in the background are the…

Is there evidence that the next FEMA emergency test will not really be a test but a cover for the government to send high-frequency signals activating "nanoparticles including graphene oxide" into phones, TVs and radios, possibly causing DNA damage in people? No, that's not true: On August 3, 2023, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced there would be a…

Does this video show that political commentator Tucker Carlson "broke in tears" talking about Antarctica? No, that's not true: This video does not show Carlson crying while talking about Antarctica. The Facebook video merely shows clips of Carlson speaking, but does not allow the original audio from these moments to be heard. The claim appeared on Facebook on September 6,…

Did the U.S. Army arrest U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen for committing treason? No, that's not true: The website where this claim was made has a disclaimer that states it publishes satirical content. The U.S. military is currently not authorized by Congress to arrest civilians. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on September…

Did Reuters publish 2024 presidential election polling numbers that heavily favored former president and current candidate Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Reuters has debunked the fake numbers and a map associated with the numbers. The map was created on a website that allows users to design their own "election forecast." The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published…

Did "undercover NYPD" officers "arrest two young people for sleeping on the concrete blocks a short distance from Times Square"? No, that's not true: the persons in question were not trying to sleep in a noisy, well-lit area on top of concrete blocks. A spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information at the New York City Police…

Does a social media post prove that a U.S. F-35 fighter jet landed safely "at the Chinese base in Cuba"? No, that's not true: The debris of an F-35 that vanished in September 2023 was found after a daylong search; its pilot had safely ejected before its crash. No official statements contradicted this version of events, and a national security…

Did President Joe Biden's family say he died and was replaced by an actor in 2019? No, that's not true: This article and accompanying video from The People's Voice is baseless. There is no member of the Biden family who has claimed that Joe Biden died in 2019 and was replaced with a body double. That claim arose from an…

Does California Senate Bill 553 make it illegal to confront or fight back against looters, burglars and shoplifters? No, that's not true: California SB 553 does not fine employees who confront shoplifters, the senator who sponsored the bill and legal experts told Lead Stories. It requires businesses to have a plan in place for employees to prevent workplace violence. The…

Did a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirm that men who receive COVID-19 vaccines "will tragically suffer a 24-year loss in their life expectancy"? No, that's not true: Dr. Nabin Shrestha, an infectious disease expert and one of the cited study's authors, told Lead Stories that such claims are "clearly misleading" and do not…

Are the tweets between Michelle Obama and Donald Trump about "destroying the country" and inviting "Mike" to play basketball real? No, that's not true: No such tweets from the former first lady's official account nor the former president's were published on August 30, 2019. The messages currently do not show up on the accounts, nor do they show up on…