Was "even the media" prosecuted during the 1945-46 Nuremberg trials of Nazi Germany's leadership and "put to death for lying to the public"? No, that's not true: This claim misrepresents the purpose of these historical legal proceedings, which set a precedent for holding individuals accountable for crimes against humanity. As the archives show, even those defendants who had a history…

Did Hitler invent highways and microphones, as Ye said in a radio interview? No, that's not true: The Nazis appropriated highway plans and construction already occurring. Several people are credited with inventing the microphone in the late 1800s, long before Hitler's time in power in Germany. The claim appeared in an interview (archived here) by Ye, who changed his name…

Does a large drop in Wisconsin's active military votes between 2020 and 2022 suggest fraud? No, that's not true: There's no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Turnout can vary greatly from election to election, especially whether they're presidential, primary or midterm ballots. Also, the 2020 election set a modern record for the highest overall voter…

Did President Joe Biden choose a "Satan worshipper" to oversee the health of Americans? No, that's not true: Biden picked Dr. Demetre Daskalakis to serve as the deputy coordinator of a national health response team for a single disease, monkeypox. Daskalakis does have a tattoo of a pentagram -- a symbol that some associate with Satan and the occult --…

Does a photo on social media show Georgia's U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, clad in a jumpsuit, walking in front of a line of women wearing penis pants? No, that's not true: The image is of a Nigerian celebrity attending a funeral in Nigeria for a music executive's mother in October 2022. The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) on…

Did Maricopa County, Arizona, lose some 292,000 votes in its final vote tally for the November 8, 2022, elections? No, that's not true: The tweet making that claim left out voters who returned their mail-in ballots in person and people who cast provisional ballots. The implied claim that Maricopa County had misrepresented the true number of voters who took part…

Does an increase in inactive voters show evidence of criminal intent in Arizona for the 2022 election? No, that's not true: The numbers in Maricopa County, Arizona, shown in the claim are accurate, representing tallies after several mailings were sent to voters to update information as required by state law, a county official told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in…

Do vaccines make people identify with a gender other than their gender assigned at birth by changing the composition of that person's DNA? No, that's not true: Vaccines do not change a person's DNA -- they provide immunity against diseases, an expert in genetics told Lead Stories. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November 26, 2022. The post's…

Did the U.S. military arrest U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to charge him with "treason and child endangerment"? No, that's not true: The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 states that the U.S. military does not serve any roles in civilian law enforcement. This arrest claim was also made on a website that publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in…

Did the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services give illegal immigrants citizenship in exchange for voting for Democrats for the rest of their lives? No, that's not true: A Homeland Security representative pointed out the satire disclaimer that can be found on the Real Raw News website and linked to an article debunking Real Raw…

Does a trident superimposed on the gold and blue Ukrainian flag represent membership in, or support for, the Nazi political movement? No, that's not true: The trident is the national symbol of Ukraine that is often added to the country's flag. The claim appeared in an Instagram post from November 25, 2022, under the title "Here I am driving to…

Were 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines recalled after giving people AIDS? No, that's not true: These vaccines were from a trial in Australia, where a plan to manufacture 50 million doses was suspended in December 2020 after the vaccine gave some patients false positive results for HIV. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The claim appeared…

Does a viral video show Al Jazeera footage of "Nazi Ukrainians" "arrested in Qatar after they drew swastikas on football posters"? No, that's not true: The network denied that it had anything to do with the clip using its logo. More importantly, the video did not contain shots of the scene with the purportedly existing posters or provide any verifiable…

Did Russian ex-president and the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, tweet that Moscow "is ready to supply Poland with the best air defence systems to prevent further aggression from Ukraine"? No, that's not true: archived versions of his Twitter accounts do not show a tweet like that. The claim appeared in a Facebook post on November 20,…

Does a newly released dataset show that COVID-19 is a deadly "experimental toxin"? And does Dr. Anthony Fauci's resignation have anything to do with it? No, neither are true: the claims recycle old falsehoods based on a distortion of publicly available information, and new reports do not support it. Fauci, 81, the country's top virologist, started talking about stepping down…

Did the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report that "it is illegal to use anything from nature that is not tested for efficacy and safety"? No, that's not true: The FDA regards herbal supplements as foods, not drugs. Therefore, they are not subjected to the same manufacturing standards to prove they are effective in curing an illness and are ultimately…

Beginning on November 19, 2022, were all U.S. citizens entitled to $1,700 per week if they mitigated the spread of monkeypox by staying home? No, that's not true: No such compensation program is in place and the claim is a set-up for a joke. The claim seems to have originated from a tweet (archived here) posted on November 22, 2022.…

Did former President Donald Trump say in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he will return to Twitter when Elon Musk, the social media platform's new owner and CEO, calls him "daddy"? No, that's not true: Trump has not posted about this on Truth Social since Musk reinstated his Twitter account on November 19, 2022. There…

Did former President Donald Trump tweet on November 19, 2022, for the first time since having his Twitter account reinstated? No, that's not true: He has not tweeted since January 8, 2021. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on November 19, 2022, with the caption "Donny is back!!!! Template from @mba_mikey." The post read: It is true that I…

Did Pope Francis write an inspirational quote that begins, "Rivers do not drink their own water"? No, that's not true: A Vatican spokeswoman told Lead Stories the quote was not authentic. The same quote is attributed to other spiritual leaders, and scholars say the quote probably has roots in an old Sanskrit proverb. The claim appeared in an Instagram post…