Does a photo show a canal in Riverdale, Georgia? No, that's not true: The canal in the photo is actually the Sart Canal Bridge in Belgium. The same photo can be found on numerous places on the internet, including on Google Maps and Google Images. The bridge's origins can be traced back to Belgium as well. The photo appeared in…

Did the U.S. military arrest former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx for her role in deceiving the public about the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19? No, that's not true: The claim is a complete fabrication by a website that has published a series of similar false claims about the military arrests of political…

Did a 9-year-old child go to prison for changing the theme-song lyrics to the classic Nickelodeon cartoon, "SpongeBob SquarePants"? No, that's not true: The picture used with the claim is of a young murder victim who was not named "Jake Sanders." Lead Stories could find no evidence of anyone named Jake Sanders sentenced to 15 years in prison for changing…

Is the Chicago Police Department now requiring its officers to ask for consent before arresting criminals? No, that's not true: The claim came from a satirical website, and a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said the claim is "not accurate." The story originated in The Babylon Bee, a conservative news satire website (archived here). It was then published on…

Did a gas station post a sign saying that customers must show proof of employment to make a gas purchase? No, that's not true: The picture of the sign is satire and was created using an online image generator. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on May 12, 2021. The post featured an image of an ExxonMobil…

Does the ownership of the late pedophile financier Jeffery Epstein's island also have ties to the Clinton Foundation? No, that's not true: This is an entirely false claim from a known satire site. The claim appeared an article published by dailyworldupdate.us on December 22, 2020, titled "Shell Corporation That Legally Owns Epstein's Island Traced To the Clinton Foundation" (archived here)…

Does the Constitution say if Trump declares himself the winner at any time on November 3 then he automatically wins? No, that's not true: This is satire from Houston talk radio host Michael Berry. The claim was posted to Facebook and Twitter. A tweet (archived here) was published by Berry on November 2, 2020. It opened: Constitution says if Trump…

Update: Yes, of course this was an April Fools joke :-) For years we here at Lead Stories have put the term "F*ke N*ws" in every headline but it is time to put a stop to the practice. For a long time academic experts like Claire Wardle have argued against using the phrase because it simply covers too many meanings…

Southend-on-Sea, U.K. - Consternation today in the British media landscape. One of the most respected official publications in all of the United Kingdom will be forced to shut down after losing European subsidies in the wake of the Brexit from the European Union. A statement from European Commissar for Media Affairs & Honest Reporting Jaques Meoff from Luxemburg earlier today…

Tragedy struck today during a family Easter brunch for Angie Holan, editor at fact checking website Politifact. An anonymous source close to the family exclusively told Lead Stories what happened: Angie wanted to bring in some extra dishes from the kitchen but there was no more room on the table. So she temporarily moved some decorative candles onto uncle Rick's…

New York, NY - In a surprise move popular website BuzzFeed has announced plans to launch a fake news spin-off. In a press release distributed to fact checkers today it was revealed Craig Silverman will be the editor-in-chief of the new publication. In an exclusive conversation with Lead Stories Silverman revealed the reasons for the move: It's quite logical if…

Reports indicate intrepid reporter and truth-teller Baxter Dimitri from the always reliable legitimate news website YourNewsWire was kidnapped today by Russian Deep State Aliens on direct orders from the Vatican. According to these reports Pope Francis has ordered a secret cabal of big pharma supporting doctors to make sure Dimitri is injected with a mind control vaccine to stop him…

Experts have warned a crisis is imminent as the world is running out of facts to check. A recent study by the Federal Institute for Statistics on Hoaxes (F.I.S.H.) estimated that every fact in the world would be checked as early as 2022. This would put thousands of fact checkers out of work and could even lead to a global…

Pristina, Kosovo - After a wide-ranging investigation one of our undercover reporters found out that most mainstream news websites in Kosovo are in fact being run out of the basement of Chief Horner's Indian Restaurant and Casino in St. Paul, right in the middle of one of America's oldest Native American reservations. By using a combination of geolocation tools, domain…

Chicago, IL - In a surprise announcement the management of famous satire website The Onion has announced today it will transition to being a regular news outlet. A statement released to the press read: In the end simple economics led to this decision. It is just too much work to keep inventing outlandish stories that can compete with all the…

Folks, the vicious feud between President Trump and the fake news media has finally come to an end. After prolonged secret negotiations brokered by the Dalai Lama and international disarmament expert Claire Wardle the various warring factions have decided to burry the hatchet: Donald Trump, George Soros, the Illuminati, the owers of Comet Ping Pong Pizza, Alex Jones, Twitter, Facebook,…

Quebec, Canada - Armed police stormed into a suburban home this morning to arrest Janick Murray-Hall and Olivier Legault for running a fake news website to fund their poutine addiction. Investigators believe the men used their website World News Daily Report to flood the world with invented news about bizarre crimes and weird sex acts in order to rake…

Maine - Fake news kingpin Christopher Blair (better known under his alias "Busta Troll") was found dead this morning in front of his computer after a neighbour heard sounds of a struggle and several gunshots. Witness Hank Meancrest who lives next door told police investigators he though he saw Hillary Clinton's limousine flee the scene of the crime shortly before…

The pope has redefined the meaning of the word 'ironic' with this tweet: Do not underestimate the value of example, for it is more powerful than a thousand words, a thousand "likes", retweets or YouTube videos. -- Pope Francis (@Pontifex) February 23, 2017 Here is a screenshot of the tweet, with the ironic part highlighted: He certainly sets a great…