War

Does a photo shared on social media authentically show Houthis missiles targeting Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in May 2025? No, that's not true: The Houthis' attempt to target the airport on May 18, 2025, failed when Israel's air defenses intercepted the rockets. There was a Houthi missile that hit near the airport on May 4, but none since. The image…

Does this video authentically document the Israeli military bombing Gaza, as a social media post claimed? No, that's not true: The video originated on a TikTok account named "@everythingai97" with a bio that says: "DISCLAIMER: ALL VIDEOS I POST ARE AI GENERATED." Several elements of the video reveal digital artifacts of the kind often found in videos that are made…

Does a video show China air-dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza in May 2025? No, that's not true: The video is from March 2024, when U.S. military planes dropped food and supplies onto a beach in Beit Lahiya, Gaza. Other videos posted at the time show the same scene, and news reports documented the event. There is no evidence that China…

Does a video show Chinese fighter jets escorting a Chinese cargo plane over Egypt's Giza pyramids en route to an air-drop of food and supplies to Gaza? No, that's not true: The video shows a May 4, 2025 joint training drill between China and Egypt's military called "Eagles of Civilization 2025," according to an official statement on China's military website.…

Does a viral image confirm that the Ukrainian government issued new rules prohibiting taking pictures of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from certain angles? No, that's not true: Talking to Lead Stories, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States referred to the image as "fake". The "rules" were self-contradictory and lacked any specific identifying information tying it to…

Did CNN broadcast a graphic touting Pakistan's supposed military success against India, including a caption that read "Pakistan Strikes India's Air Defense"? No, that's not true: A CNN spokesperson told Lead Stories it was a "fabricated image". India has denied Pakistan's claims of having inflicted significant damage on their S-400 air defense system. The fake CNN graphic was presented as…

Did a letter shared in May 2025 authentically show that Pakistan's Air Force had fired Air Vice Marshall Aurangzeb Ahmed, for supposedly "failing to protect" a nuclear facility? No, that's not true: The fake letter originated on an X account which describes its content as "political satire". The image of the letter also had the word "satire" in the top…

Did CNN air a graphic of statistics from the India-Pakistan conflict that showed India suffered far larger losses than Pakistan and that U.S. President Trump helped "curb India's losses?" No, that's not true: A CNN spokesperson told Lead Stories the global news network did not air the graphic and that it was "fabricated." There are no official numbers of jets,…

Did a widely-shared video authentically show President Donald Trump speaking in praise of Pakistan's Air Force, and claiming India had "humiliated itself", in the context of May 2025 clashes between the two countries? No, that's not true: The video contained fake audio of Trump's voice making remarks he never did, in reality. The fake voice and conspicuously fake mouth movements…

Does a video clearly show French President Macron hiding a bag of white powder cocaine as reporters enter a train car where he is meeting with German Chancellor Merz and UK Prime Minister Starmer? No, that's not true: The low-resolution video used to make the claim that the white material in front of Macron is cocaine is too blurry to…

Does a video of a circular object with sparks and smoke swirling under it as it falls to the ground show an Israeli drone sent by India being destroyed over Pakistan? No, that's not true: The video shows a firework known as a "Thai Girandola" misfiring during a launch in Thailand. The video is an edited version of the original…

Did widely-shared clips show fires and explosions in the Pakistani city of Karachi during May 2025 clashes with India? No, that's not true: Some of the videos in question had been online for several weeks before that conflagration began, and therefore had no link to the later conflict. One was recorded during a market fire in Sadiqabad, Pakistan in March,…

Did a video show an Indian drone falling to the ground and causing an explosion, after being shot down by Pakistani forces in May 2025? No, that's not true: The video had been online since April 29, one week before India struck locations in Pakistan in response to a terrorist attack by Pakistani militants, and Pakistan, in response, shot down…

Did a video authentically show President Donald Trump saying, of clashes between India and Pakistan in May 2025, "let 'em fight"? No, that's not true: The clip was authentic, but was recorded in 2019. Trump was speaking then in the context of conflict between ISIS and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The claim appeared in a May 6, 2025, post on…

Did a video show a Pakistani pilot lying on the ground after being shot down during military skirmishes between India and Pakistan in May 2025? No, that's not true: the footage had been online since mid-April, 2025, and appears to relate to an accidental crash near the city of Vehari, on April 15. According to reports, the two Pakistani Air…

Does video labelled on social media as "...footage of the Indian Army's attack on Sialkot, Pakistan" authentically show a 2025 Indian Army assault on its neighbor? No, that's not true: It is misleadingly re-labelled Al Jazeera footage lifted from 2023 coverage of the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. At the time of writing this, there had been no credible…

Did The Sun publish a video claiming Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle sold Princess Diana's iconic revenge dress to Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska for $2.9 million in April 2025? No, that's not true: There is no such story or video on The Sun's website or social media. The quote from "Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams" in the video was cut…

Did Statista publish a graph detailing the nationalities of the people described as "mercenaries" who fought for Ukraine and were killed in the Kursk region of Russia? No, that's not true: The data on the Statista website doesn't show the graph shared on social media. Unlike authentic charts published by that company, the graph omitted the source of the figures…

Did the rapper Eminem announce in April 2025 that he would hold a concert in Israel in June? No, that's not true: A poster shared widely on social media billed the show as the star's "first time in Israel" and gave a date of June 1, 2025. However, no such announcement could be found on Eminem's official website or social…

Did the BBC report that Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska tried to escape to Europe and was put under the guard of the national Security Service when the attempt failed? No, that's not true: In a statement to Lead Stories, a BBC spokesperson refuted the claim, referring to the viral video as "fabricated content that impersonates the BBC." No credible…