Does a photo show a well-dressed French detective working the case of the Crown Jewels stolen from the Louvre? No, that's not true: The original poster later said it was a "fantasy version" she did not regret posting. There is no indication that this man is a detective working this case. A police car parked in a tunnel left enough…
Did Snapchat management issue a warning to all users that there had been an update to the terms of use requiring users to forward a warning message to twenty people in two hours or their account would be deleted? No, that's not true: The viral copy-paste hoax is not real and should not be passed along. There was, at the…
Did the Civil Guard and Army enter the chambers of the Congress of Deputies of Spain to arrest lawmakers? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. Some versions of the video are published with a watermark labeling them as created by the Sora AI video-maker and disclaimer. Other versions have digital stickers added to obscure the Sora watermark A…
Did the chair of the Nobel committee that chose the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize say that Donald Trump was not chosen because they only "give the award to people of courage and integrity?" No, that's not true: A reporter asked Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes how the campaign by President Trump and his supporters to get the award for…
Did California Governor Gavin Newsom win the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2025 and has President Donald Trump "exploded with rage" over the news? No, that's not true: The story originated on a well known satire publication named The Borowitz Report. There were no actual news reports about Newsom being awarded the prize. The viral article (archived here) was published…
Did California Governor Gavin Newsom win the Nobel Peace Prize on October 7, 2025? No, that's not true: The story originated in a post by satirist Andy Borowitz. The 2025 prize was scheduled to be announced on October 10. The story appeared in an October 7, 2025, post on Facebook (archived here), which stated: OSLO--Donald J. Trump reportedly "exploded with…
Do viral clips with a pop-up warning advising people "under 18 years old" against watching videos of the "overcrowded Oktoberfest" show dramatic events in Munich, Germany? No, that's not true: It's engagement bait added to routine video of the annual beer and folk culture festival. Such pop-up banners attempt to make social media users hit "like" or "follow" buttons as…
Does a video show a crowd on a beach in Gaza who came to greet the arriving Samud Flotilla? No, that's not true: The crowd in the video gathered on Sidi Bou Said beach near Tunis, which is 1,400 miles across the Mediterranean Sea from Gaza. The video was filmed Sept. 10, 2025, weeks before the flotilla approached Gaza. The…
Did the public school system in Hamburg, Germany ban music lessons to avoid offending Muslims who view them to be forbidden or 'haram'? No, that's not true: The Hamburg public schools did no such thing. A German language news report has been misrepresented in social media posts. The report followed the signing of a joint statement by religious representatives and…
Did the Nobel Peace Prize Committee permanently disqualify Donald Trump from ever receiving the prize and was this news announced via a press release? No, that's not true: A fake press release using the the logo of Associated Press and mentioning a defunct website named swisstimes.org originated on the X account of a parody website. There were no media announcements…
Is there any evidence that Charlie Kirk's widow Erika Kirk's "Romanian Angels" or "Everyday Heroes like You" ministries were accused of "snatching children only to send them straight into sex and organ trafficking networks in the United Kingdom and Israel? No, that's not true: A review of Romanian court records and media reports by Lead Stories' Romanian staff found only…
Did the Dutch government officially label Antifa as a terrorist organization on September 18, 2025? No, that's not true: The Dutch parliament only passed a motion requesting that the government do that. Motions are parliamentary talking points and do not oblige the Dutch government to do anything, so it may or may not still happen in the future. Posts on…
Do images described as tree stumps provide proof that there were once giant ancient trees which were felled by angels? No, that's not true: The photos show natural geological features around the world which came to be through several geological processes over millions of years. Volcanoes erupting, erosion of different materials at different speeds, and the lifting and folding of…
Did the UK government begin enforcing a daily bank withdrawal limit of £3,000 on individual accounts on September 1, 2025? No, that's not true: No such policy has been announced by either of the UK's banking and banker regulatory authorities. No such law, let alone regulation, has been adopted by Parliament and no credible news organization has reported such a…
Did a mural painted by Banksy on a wall at London's Royal Courts of Justice depict a judge striking a protester lying on the ground and holding an English flag? No, that's not true: The original Banksy wall art featured a protester holding a white placard that appeared to be splashed with blood. The version spreading on social media showing…
Did a video capture an exchange in which a "Queer for Palestine" supporter wanted to join a rally in Amsterdam but was told by other participants that "We are Muslims and you disgust us"? No, that's not true: A viral post reused a 2021 recording documenting a Dutch-language exchange that did not contain such a phrase. At the time, news…
Did a "first population-wide peer-reviewed study" confirm that COVID-19 vaccines cause "turbo cancers"? No, that's not true: The study referred to its results as preliminary. The corresponding author told Lead Stories that more research is needed to confirm the findings about cancer among those vaccinated against COVID-19. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published on The Gateway Pundit…
Does a real photo show the political and climate activist Greta Thunberg wearing a revealing keyhole T-shirt along with her signature frog hat? No, that's not true: The photo of Greta Thunberg has been digitally edited. The shirt Thunberg actually wore when she was photographed in Barcelona, Spain, is a crop top which does not have a cutout below the…
Does a viral video really show a Russian Su-27 jet intercepting a NATO F-15 trying to get closer to a Tu22m3 bomber over Ukraine? No, that's not true: The footage which was widely copied to other social networks carried the watermark of a TikTok channel that publishes aviation videos. The caption under that video claimed it was created in the…
Is an image of British Union Jack flags crowding the Mall in London during a popular uprising of patriots in late August, 2025, authentic? No, that's not true: The image shared widely across social platforms is an odd digital representation of the Mall, which runs a half mile from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. This image shows the Arc de…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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