Society

Does a real video show a young boy crying out for his daddy when he saw the flag-draped casket on the tarmac? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. It originated from a Facebook page which has posted reels of exclusively AI-generated videos showing highly emotional scenes. The videos published by the page are posted in groups of three,…

Does a post about Mark Zuckerberg's supposed subpoena accurately reflect recent reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein front company, Butterfly Foundation, named in the Tehran files? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no news articles about the supposed subpoena or mentioning the statement "Mr. Zuckerberg will cooperate fully" the post said his lawyers released. The "Butterfly Foundation" is not named…

Do the Epstein files reveal that "cannibal" Ellen DeGeneres ate Anne Heche after murdering her? No, that's not true: The only mention of Heche in the Department of Justice (DOJ) Epstein files is from a newspaper headline in the sidebar of another article. There is nothing in the Epstein files suggesting DeGeneres murdered Heche or cannibalized her body. Heche died…

Does a video show a nuclear test carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran? No, that's not true: The video clip shows a nuclear test in the Nevada desert in 1957. The mislabeled video clip bears the watermark of the YouTube channel @atomcentral who posted the old footage of the atomic test in 2023. The mislabeled…

Does a viral image actually show the funeral of the children killed during the U.S.-Israel attack? No, that's not true: It contains multiple artifacts characteristic of AI. The account that was the source of the picture later disclosed that it used AI to create it. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on March 3, 2026. The…

Is a video showing the Burj Khalifa skyscraper on fire amid the U.S. attack on Iran real? No, that's not true: An online detection tool rated the image 99.9% likely to be AI-generated. There were explosions due to retaliation from Iran in the United Arab Emirates near the skyscraper in Dubai, but the building itself was not hit or on…

Do real photos show celebrities like Stevie Nicks, Bob Dylan, and Barry Manilow posed in front of their $80 million private jets? No, that's not true: A network of fake fan pages are publishing nearly identical copy/paste clickbait stories. The posts have AI-generated images of the celebrities posed with private jets. While some celebrities do own private jets, the made…

Does a viral image prove that Ghislaine Maxwell, a socialite convicted of sex trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein, touched Melania Trump's breast while posing next to Donald Trump at a party in the early 2000s? No, that's not true: A real photo of them was digitally altered to change the position of Maxwell's hand. In the original shot, Maxwell's arm rests…

Was a "secret report" numbered 77/5000 released with the Epstein files, showing security camera footage of the now-dead pedophile financier walking with and kissing a girl? No, that's not true: This video is fake. There are two nearly identical versions of this AI-generated video. Both feature the same non-functioning timestamp, identical down to the second. In one version the girl…

Does real video show a court case involving a teen who illegally worked night shifts in order to care for his sister after their parents died? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. The story does not include any specifics about names, locations or dates. The video appears to show three different courtrooms and contains glitches typical of AI-generated…

Does a viral image document Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney dining with Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite convicted of sex trafficking girls for Jeffrey Epstein? No, that's not true: The image displayed a watermark pointing to a generative AI tool. Several details in the picture, such as missing temples of a person's glasses or an earring incorrectly attached to an…

Is there a federal "Born In America" act that would prevent naturalized citizens from elected office being promoted by numerous luminaries including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Sen. John Kennedy, Rep. Jim Jordan, FBI Director Kash Patel, and movie star Denzel Washington? No, that's not true: Nearly identical versions of a dramatic story about the purported bill, changed only to…

Did Devarjaye "DJ" Daniel, the brain cancer survivor whom President Trump made an honorary Secret Service agent, die on February 23, 2026? No, that's not true: As of Feb. 25, 2026, there was no evidence that DJ had died. Following similar rumors in January 2026, DJ's dad, Theodis Daniel, said, "If any update [does] not come from me, his Dad,…

Did Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger publish a campaign video where she promised, with a sinister smile, to never encroach on the Constitution and never take your guns? No, that's not true: This AI-generated video was published on X by the Loudoun County Republican Committee and did not originate from Spanberger. An AI tool animated two still portrait photographs of Spanberger…

Was Ghislaine Maxwell spotted out and about in Québec, Canada? No, that's not true: This video shows a real street scene in Québec, but an AI tool has been used to swap the face of the woman with Ghislaine Maxwell's. The creator who published this face swap video does not have a disclaimer regarding the AI-generated content. But, in a…

Is a video that shows "Specimen 9X" at a place called the "Blackridge Containment Facility" in Nevada legitimate? No, that's not true: An online detection tool rated the video likely to be AI-generated. The "Blackridge Containment Facility" is not a real place. The claim appeared in a February 23, 2026, post on X (archived here). It opened: This is specimen…

Did Team USA hockey captain Auston Matthews go off the rails during a postgame interview, slamming Canada? No, that's not true: Video of Matthews' interview after the Feb. 22, 2026, Olympic gold medal game shows that he never called out Canada for having a prime minister who wore blackface and is dating Katy Perry. Nor did Matthews say that Canadian…

Does a viral post prove that U.S. President Donald Trump called C-SPAN to complain about the Supreme Court's decision making his previous sweeping tariffs on foreign goods illegal? No, that's not true: The caller who introduced himself as "John Barron" was not identified as Trump anywhere except for social media. The TV channel issued a statement refuting the rumor that…

Do photos and social media accounts of Austin Tucker Martin reveal him to be transgender? No, that's not true: The photos purporting to show Martin, who was killed while allegedly armed and breaking into President Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club, are mislabeled. They show an unidentified person who does not resemble verified family photos of Martin. No credible reporting about Austin…

Did Kash Patel, Sen. John Kennedy, Pete Buttigieg, Vince Gill and others demand that former President Barack Obama return millions he earned through ownership related to "Obamacare"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories that swap-in those and other names are part of an international network of websites and Facebook pages that publish fake news stories about famous people to…