Society

Did Disney ban MAGA hats from their theme parks in June 2025? No, that's not true: The claim originated on Mouse Trap News, which describes its output as "satire and parody". We found no evidence to suggest that the rumor was even inadvertently true. The claim appeared in a June 18, 2025, post on Instagram. The embedded video bore the…

Did widely-shared social media posts accurately show that a Cuban singer who performed a pro-Donald Trump song was Yanet Correa, whose husband was later ordered to be deported by the Trump administration in 2025? No, that's not true: The woman shown singing "I will vote for Donald Trump" was Ana Pinelli Paez. The second woman, shown crying outside a Miami…

Did Dunkin' Donuts' CEO announce in June 2025 that a woke ad campaign cost the company $1 billion, forcing it to backtrack? No, that's not true: The story is fiction and copies the idea, but not the words, of a September 2024 spoof produced by a Facebook page specializing in satirical news stories. No evidence-based news organization has published or…

Did Vice President Kamala Harris say "If we elect Trump, we will be at war within 6 months" as multiple viral memes claim she did? No, that's not true: There is no publicly available proof she said it. None of the multiple versions of the meme provides the time or place when she is supposed to have said it. Had…

Did NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace call for the white flag, which signals the final lap of a race, to be banned, in June 2025? No, that's not true: The rumor originated on a Facebook page that publishes sports-related "sports parodies" and "satire". Wallace, who is Black, previously called for NASCAR to ban displays of the Confederate flag at races, which…

Did a video of a large crowd walking through the streets of a city show people fleeing Tel Aviv en masse in June 2025? No, that's not true: The clip was recorded in Russia. It showed an annual pilgrimage organized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on June 19, 2025. It…

Did a viral video show passengers singing with a flight attendant waving an Israeli flag, in June 2025? No, that's not true: Posts on social media reused an old recording. The footage had been on the internet since October 2023. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on June 19, 2025. It read: Israel carries out a…

Did Paul McCartney give his private jet to a WW2 vet to help the 102-year-old American reunite with his wartime lover? No, that's not true: The text and supporting images in a story making the claim were generated by artificial intelligence tools. There is no documentation that the former Beatle lent his plane to an elderly veteran for a flight…

Did former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning buy a dog rescue shelter that was about to close? No, that's not true: A viral Facebook post contained no more than fan fiction and an image that appeared to be AI-generated. The page that published it regularly posts similar heartwarming (and fabricated) stories about Manning, along with pictures that appear AI-generated. The story…

Did Disney and Playboy announce in June 2025 that they would be collaborating to produce a special $50 edition of the magazine? No, that's not true: The claim originated on Mouse Trap News, which describes its output as "satire and parody". We found no evidence to suggest that the rumor was even inadvertently true. The claim appeared in a June…

Did a widely-shared video show an Iranian woman dancing in the rain in June 2025, as a protest against that country's "Islamic regime"? No, that's not true: The clip showed Tamta Sabelashvili, a Georgian influencer and personal trainer who lives in France. She posted the video in 2023, meaning it had no connection to the Iran-Israel conflict that took place…

Does a trending video on social media authentically capture a fight inside a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Israel? No, that's not true: What looked like a crowd pushing each other was a scene from another country, Georgia. It depicted the atmosphere on the day of a verdict in a high-profile trial 13 years earlier. The claim appeared in a…

Did New Balance publicly cut ties with Simone Biles, ending a $22 million contract after the gymnast criticised activist Riley Gaines in June 2025? No, that's not true: The rumor originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. Quotes attributed to the footwear brand were fabricated. The claim appeared in a June 10, 2025, post on Facebook (archived here),…

Were the Minnesota shootings targeting state lawmakers and their family members motivated by leftist political views of the suspect, Vance Luther Boelter? While many details remain unclear as of June16, 2025, available evidence doesn't support this theory. Here is what we know about Boelter's political affiliation. A rumor about Boelter's left-leaning views appeared in a post (archived here) on X,…

Did a widely-shared video show real police officers handcuffing a Black man in a restaurant who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent? No, that's not true: The people in the video were simply acting out a scripted scenario. The page that posted the sketch routinely publishes similar scripted scenarios, and is affiliated with Network Media, a company that…

Did former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning adopt a daughter named Lily? No, that's not true: A viral Facebook post contained no more than fan fiction and images that appeared to be AI-generated. The page that published it regularly posts similar heartwarming (and fabricated) stories about Manning, along with pictures that appear AI-generated. The story appeared in a widely-shared June 10,…

Does a widely-shared video prove that U.S. military tanks patrolled the streets of Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2025? No, that's not true: The person who recorded it told Lead Stories that the 10-second clip showed an armored vehicle that was in the nation's capital to participate in a military parade on June 14, 2025. That account was consistent with…

Was a Craigslist ad offering "$1,000, paid in cryptocurrency" for "seat fillers" to attend a military parade in Washington, D.C. authentic? The listing attracted attention on social media when it appeared in the week leading up to a June 14, 2025, military parade. Here is what we know about it so far. The ad (archived here) was published on June…

Did a video show passengers on board an Air India flight as it crashed in June 2025? No, that's not true: The clip was in fact recorded on board a plane that crashed after leaving Kathmandu, Nepal, in January 2023. On June 12, 2025, a London-bound Air India flight with 242 people on board crashed shortly after leaving Ahmedabad airport…

Did Donald Trump post on his Truth Social account that he is "...open to reconciling with Elon ..."? No, that's not true: The viral image of the supposed Trump post on the social media platform he owns is fabricated. There is no trace of such a post on Trump's Truth Social account and none was indexed by Google. After their…