by: Maarten Schenk
» Most Recent
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Fake News: Trump Tower Did NOT Open in Pyongyang
Has a Trump Tower hotel opened in North Korean capital Pyongyang after the historic summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-Un? No, that's not true, this story was created... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: LeBron James Did NOT Buy Chris Paul's New Orleans Condo
Did LeBron James buy the New Orleans condo of his good friend Chris Paul? No, that's not true: a story that claimed he did appeared on a prank website but... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: House Democrats Did NOT Draft Legislation That Would Make It A Hate Crime To Eat At Chick-Fil-A
Is eating at Chick-Fil-A soon to be a hate crime according to newly drafted legislation from the Democrats? Of course not, that story is not true. It originated on a... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: NO Man Claiming To Be The Real Prince Harry Found Dead In Irish Hotel
Was 31-year-old James Francis Alexander found dead in a hotel room in Dublin, Ireland and did this man claim he was the "real" Prince Harry? No, that's not true: the... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show Muslims Rioting In Birmingham Demanding Nobody Drive During Ramadan
Did a viral video show muslims rioting in Birmingham because they demand nobody drive down their street during Ramadan? No, that's not true: a video showing Swiss soccer hooligans has... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
»News & Analysis from the world of Fake News
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Newest Site From 'Ghana' Fake News Network Copies Christopher Blair's Footer
About three weeks ago Lead Stories reported on a network of fake news websites apparently centered around Ghana in Africa that was responsible for several huge death hoaxes. After our... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Paul Horner's Old Website Taken Over By Vietnamese Spammer Stealing Fact Checks From Snopes
Newsexaminer.net, a website that used to be run by Paul Horner before the fake news superstar died last year has apparently been taken over by a spammer from Vietnam who... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Global Fake News Network Responsible For Dozens of Death Hoaxes Shuts Down After Ghana Connections Revealed
Forget Macedonia, the real capital of fake news might just be Accra in Ghana On April 17, 2018 former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away but a full day earlier... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Christopher Blair AKA Busta Troll Starts Several New Trolling Websites (And A Porn Site Network)
Regular readers of Lead Stories know we've been following the exploits of Christopher Blair for quite some time now. From taking over right wing Facebook pages with hordes of goats... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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American Troll: John Prager Takes Us Inside Christopher Blair's Secret Troll Cave (Part 1/2)
Readers of Lead Stories know we've been following the work of Christopher Blair (featured in the Boston Globe today by coincidence) for quite some time now. For those of you... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Why Lead Stories Debunks Satire Stories
We sometimes get asked by readers why we bother fact checking and debunking stories that were clearly meant as satire and which are properly labeled as such by the sites... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Hoax Alert
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Fake News: Intern Who Wrote Plagiarised Melania Tweet Did NOT Die In Bizarre Accident
Did an intern who wrote a plagiarised Melania tweet die in an accident involving a falling Xerox machine? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a relatively... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Trump Tower Did NOT Open in Pyongyang
Has a Trump Tower hotel opened in North Korean capital Pyongyang after the historic summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-Un? No, that's not true, this story was created... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: LeBron James Did NOT Buy Chris Paul's New Orleans Condo
Did LeBron James buy the New Orleans condo of his good friend Chris Paul? No, that's not true: a story that claimed he did appeared on a prank website but... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: House Democrats Did NOT Draft Legislation That Would Make It A Hate Crime To Eat At Chick-Fil-A
Is eating at Chick-Fil-A soon to be a hate crime according to newly drafted legislation from the Democrats? Of course not, that story is not true. It originated on a... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: NO Man Claiming To Be The Real Prince Harry Found Dead In Irish Hotel
Was 31-year-old James Francis Alexander found dead in a hotel room in Dublin, Ireland and did this man claim he was the "real" Prince Harry? No, that's not true: the... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show Muslims Rioting In Birmingham Demanding Nobody Drive During Ramadan
Did a viral video show muslims rioting in Birmingham because they demand nobody drive down their street during Ramadan? No, that's not true: a video showing Swiss soccer hooligans has... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Politics
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Fake News: Kim Jong Un Did NOT Offer to Host Peace Talks Between United States and Canada
Did North-Korean leader Kim Jong Un offer to mediate between the U.S. and Canada after the recent spat at the G-7 Summit where President Trump accused Canada of unfair trade... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: CNN Did NOT Fire Jake Tapper For Assaulting Eric Trump
Was Jake Tapper fired by CNN for assaulting Eric Trump? No, that's not true, the news was made up by a site that invents satirical fake news stories in order... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Eric Trump Did NOT Get In A Fistfight With A CNN Anchor, NOBODY Went To Jail
Did Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump, get into a fistfight with CNN anchor Jake Tapper? No, that's not true, the news was made up by a site that... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: President Trump Did NOT Expel 438 Wakandan Refugees
Did President Trump really expel 438 refugees from Wakanda? No, that's not true: the country doesn't even exist, it is a fictional land created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: West Wing Source Did NOT Claim 'Melania Has Been Dead For Days'
Has a West Wing source claimed that Melania Trump has been dead for days after a failed liver transplant? No, that's not true: the story was invented out of whole... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Macron, Trudeau Did NOT Say They Weren't Going to Tell Trump Where G-7 Afterparty Was
Were French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau planning on not telling American President Donald Trump where the afterparty was at the G-7 summit in Quebec? No,... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Entertainment
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Fake News: LeBron James Did NOT Buy Chris Paul's New Orleans Condo
Did LeBron James buy the New Orleans condo of his good friend Chris Paul? No, that's not true: a story that claimed he did appeared on a prank website but... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: George Lucas NOT Dead In Traffic Accident
Was George Lucas, the creator of the original Star Wars movies, killed in a traffic accident in Hollywood? No, that's not true: the death hoax appeared on a site that... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: George R.R. Martin NOT Dead After Massive Heart Attack
Did George R.R. Martin, writer of Game of Thrones, die of a massive heart attack? No, that's not true: someone posted a fake death notice to a prank website, in... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Danny Drinkwater NOT To Miss World Cup Due To Dehydration
Is England soccer player Danny Drinkwater missing the World Cup because of dehydration? No, that's not true: the news was invented by a satire site as a pun on his... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Fortnite NOT Shutting Down
Is the popular game Fortnite shutting down? No, that's not true: an image showing a tweet claiming that was the case originated on a prank website, it is not real.... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Jake Paul NOT Injured In Car Accident, NO 2 Dead
Was YouTube star Jake Paul involved in a car accident that cost the lives of two people and did he end up in hospital because of it? No, that's nonsense:... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Video
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show Muslims Rioting In Birmingham Demanding Nobody Drive During Ramadan
Did a viral video show muslims rioting in Birmingham because they demand nobody drive down their street during Ramadan? No, that's not true: a video showing Swiss soccer hooligans has... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show Man Burning After Phone Connected To Power Bank Explodes, NOT In Dubai Mall
Does a video being shared around on social media show a man on fire in a shopping center because his phone exploded in his pocket while connected to a power... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: NOT A Video Of An Israeli Policeman Strangling A Palestinian Child To Death
Does a video show an Israeli policeman strangling a Palestinian child to death near some kind of escalator? No, that's not true: a video filmed in the Swedish city of... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show 6K People Marching For Tommy Robinson To Be Freed
Does a viral video show six thousand people marching down London's Whitehall to demand freedom for Tommy Robinson? No, that's not true: the video is from several weeks before Robinson's... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake Video: Congress Is NOT Demanding The Arrest of Hillary Clinton
Is Congress demanding the arrest of Hillary Clinton and the appointment of a second special counsel in the wake of the FBI spy operation? No: a live video stream claiming... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show Palestinian Martyr Scratching His Nose Under His Shroud
Were Palestinian 'martyrs' seen moving under their shrouds in a video that was making the rounds in May 2018? No, the video being spread by Twitter user "p4z" is not... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk