Politics

Did Dior fashion house replace Bella Hadid with Israeli model May Tager due to Hadid's support of Palestine? No, that's not true: Hadid left Dior and joined beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury in March 2023, as the company publicly announced on its social media pages. This was seven months before the 2023 Hamas-Israel war erupted. Tager is not new to Dior.…

Does a post on social media confirm that a Palestinian family grieved over a doll wrapped in white for burial, staging their loss? No, that's not true: The available body of evidence strongly suggests that the footage showed the body of an infant. The scene was shot from multiple angles by at least two different people, and both said it…

Does a New York Post headline claim that James Gordon Meek, a former investigative journalist for ABC who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in September 2023, also "debunked" the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory? No, that's not true: Such a headline never appeared in the New York Post. Additionally, there's no evidence that Meek ever wrote a story about Pizzagate. The…

Were reports that talk about a supposed imminent "EMP Threat" or "Blackout Warfare" against the U.S. "leaked" from the Department of Homeland Security, and were these documents "classified" in any way? No, that's not true: The reports that are sometimes used on social media to promote a documentary by Teddy Daniels are publicly available and easily accessible on the internet.…

Did Joe Rogan discuss a "scathing documentary" about an impending attack on the United States during an episode of Rogan's podcast partly shown in a video posted on Facebook? No, that's not true: A transcript of the full episode featuring Russell Brand never mentions Teddy Daniels or his documentary about an attack that supposedly would wipe out 90 percent of…

Did U.S. Marines "kill" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "Managing Officer" Aaron Aranas by fatally shooting him on November 24, 2023? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer confirmed to Lead Stories that this claim is false. The claim appeared in an article on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content often mistaken for real news. The claim…

Does a video posted on X show Israeli protesters surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem to demand his resignation? No, that's not true: The video shows a rally taking place in Tel Aviv to call for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. At least two English-language signs carried by protesters refer to Israelis held hostage…

Did the United States introduce a plan in November 2023 to ban meat consumption nationwide? No, that's not true: The claim implying that New York City's Mayor Eric Adams was somehow involved in a purported federal incentive is not supported by any evidence confirming the existence of such a plan. This is a variation of a previously debunked claim. The…

Did U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say that a ceasefire is when "somebody sees a fire"? No, that's not true: This is a deepfake video originating from a meme account that identified it as such with a "deepfake" hashtag. The voice track that mimics the voice of Ocasio-Cortez was added over a video clip taken from a livestream posted by the…

Did the Irish government deploy military vehicles to stop people expressing public outrage about the stabbings of children and a woman in Dublin? No, that's not true: According to the Irish Defence Forces, an image that showed military vehicles in Dublin posted on X on November 23, 2023, had "no connection" to an attempt by riot police to stop rioting…

Did VG, a Norwegian newspaper, report that the average age of Palestinians killed in Gaza was 5 years old, as claimed by an image on social media? No, that's not true: The newspaper reported that 5-year-olds represented the age group with the highest number of people killed in Gaza between October 7 and October 26, 2023. Taking the largest age…

Does a video on Instagram show a Doctors Without Borders medic scooping up a rifle from a fallen gunman and running it up the street to another gunman who is still shooting? No, that's not true: The uniform worn by the person in the video carries the logo of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a different organization. Higher-resolution video filmed…

Does a video on social media show President Joe Biden speaking very slowly and haltingly about the powerful drug fentanyl? No, that's not true: The video in a viral Instagram post has been digitally edited. In the real, extended video, Biden speaks at a natural pace on various topics at a press conference during the U.S.-China summit in November 2023.…

Does a video on social media show two versions of the same January 6, 2021, speakerphone call between then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence, apparently implying at least one of the versions was staged? No, that's not true: The actual video of the call following the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6 was deceptively edited to exactly…

Was an American soldier holding a "China flag" when President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California unusual or a breach of protocol as implied by a tweet from Graham Allen? No, that's not true: A State Department spokesperson told Lead Stories that anytime a foreign leader is hosted in the United States, a member of the…

Will 10 states be issuing a fourth round of IRS stimulus checks on November 30, 2023? No, that's not true: There is no 2023 federal tax benefit stimulus program from the IRS nor are all the states listed in a social media post issuing their own stimulus checks. Virginia will be issuing rebate checks to eligible taxpayers before November 30,…

Does an image taken from footage on January 6, 2021, reveal a federal agent holding a badge as part of a staged federal insurrection or "Fedsurrection"? No, that's not true: The image shows Kevin Lyons, a Chicago man sentenced to 51 months in prison on six federal charges. Multiple news stories identify him and show Lyons at the U.S. Capitol…

Did 17,327 dead people vote in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election? No, that's not true: The Michigan Office of the Auditor General released an audit in March 2022 that found 1,616 votes cast by electors who died prior to election day in the 2020 general election were tallied. No voter fraud was determined to have occurred by the audit,…

Does a video show California's governor, Gavin Newsom, falling down the steps while deplaning? No, that's not true: According to the person who first posted it, the footage, filmed in 2014, shows Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who at that time was the coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats. The California's Governor's office confirms that the video does not show Newsom. The old…

Did Barack Obama's stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, run death squads for the Indonesian army in the mid-1960s? No, that's not true: The identities of those who organized the death squads are well known and Soetoro was not one of them, a professor who has studied the mass violence of 1965-66 in Indonesia told Lead Stories. While Soetoro, a geography student, was…