Is a photo of President Trump, President of China Xi Jinping, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos at the head table at the White House state dinner on Sept. 24, 2026, real? No, that's not true: The image is clearly labeled...

Did Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say that America deserved 9/11 during an address to the United Nations General Assembly? No, that's not true: Netanyahu was criticizing New York's Mayor Zohran Mamdani when he repeated the words said by political...

From person-to-person coaching and intensive hands-on seminars to interactive online courses and media reporting, Poynter helps journalists sharpen skills and elevate storytelling throughout their car...

Did Italian newspaper La Repubblica publish an article saying that one of the 2027 French presidential candidates, Édouard Philippe, acquired a villa for 15 million euros? No, that's not true: The newspaper denied it. Lead Stories found no credible sources...

Is a meme that shows a mugshot of a woman accused of herding goats through a Walmart while drinking margaritas...

Did a caption accompanying a viral image correctly claim it showed FIFA President Gianni Infantino making a phone call after Egypt took a 2-0 lead over Argentina? No, that's not true: Infantino did not attend this World Cup game in...

Is the number of girls raped in the United Kingdom by grooming gangs definitively documented to be 250,000? No, that's not true: That figure is an extrapolation using an unclear methodology based on data from smaller communities with headline-grabbing scandals...

Does a real video show a female military captain named Elena Carter not saluting President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The video was posted on an account made of self-described AI videos. Details of the video also point to...

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Are viral posts claiming Cole Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, worked as a security staff...

Is a video real that shows Marlon Brando explaining that he declined the 1973 Oscar over the "increasing control of Zionists in Hollywood"? No, that's not true: The American actor did decline the 1973 Best Actor Oscar for his role...

Welcome to The Fact Check, where Lead Stories highlights disinformation trends through a selection of our fact checks of the last 7 days.

Let me tell you a story. When I was a child, I suffered from night terrors. It was always the same dream: I could hear my family and neighbors wailing…

Bixonimania doesn’t exist except in a clutch of obviously bogus academic papers. So why did AI chatbots warn people about this fictional illness?

Did President Donald Trump post a warning on his Truth Social account on Easter morning, April 5, 2026, that the United States would soon attack Iran's power plants and bridges and demanding that Iran "Open the Fuckin' Strait"? Yes, that's...

Is an image of a smiling man in a combat uniform holding an American flag a real photo of a U.S. F-15 crew member after his rescue from Iran? No, that's not true: The image was made by an artificial...

Does a video show President Donald Trump patting a Secret Service agent on her backside? No, that's not true: The video appears to show a version of the White House Oval Office that does not match the real one, with...

Did U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer threaten to close U.S. bases at Lakenheath, Mildenhall and elsewhere, and demand rent if President Donald Trump withdraws from NATO? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Starmer made such a threat....

Does a viral video purporting to show the ruins of an Amazon data center in the Middle East document a real scene? No, that's not true: The video contained multiple signs pointing to AI, including an incorrectly spelled company's name...

Did the Nobel Committee quietly remove President Donald Trump's name from the list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize?...

Does a viral image authentically show several European leaders like Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen sitting on chairs in a White House corridor? No, that's not true: The image did not appear on any news sites. It contained...

Our tech columnist drafted 65 community notes, Meta’s new crowdsourced system to fight falsehoods. It failed to make a dent.

Does a viral image match the description of the birthday note Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein as given in a July 17, 2025 Wall Street Journal story? No, that's not true: Several elements in the image do not match...

Does a viral video of flood scenes include real clips of the 2025 Independence Day Weekend flooding in Kerr County, Texas? No, that's not true: The opening scene is an obvious product of generative AI. None of the clips in...

Did a video show U.S. President Donald Trump stealing the winner's medal of a player after the football Club World Cup Final in July 2025? No, that's not true: The medal in Trump's hands was earlier given to him by...

Is a viral video a real news report about a "Sheriff Larry Leda" saying he'd apply for a green card for the Mexican rescue team that saved his family? No, that's not true: The footage in the viral video came...

Did Democratic nominee and then-sitting Vice President Kamala Harris get 68 million votes in 2024? No, that's not true: In reality, she got more than 75 million, according to data on the Federal Election Commission website. That's fewer than Joe...

Did President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post, ask the public to "focus on Mexicans and flooding" rather than whether he is "all over the Epstein files"? No, that's not true: A widely-shared screenshot which appeared to show such...

Zuckerberg's pivot to crowdsourcing features three jacked dudes, a flirty farmer, and some useful notes

Is TikTok influencer Khaby Lame currently under arrest by ICE and was he "deported"? No, that's not true: A video...

Did Elon Musk send a cryptic tweet with the hashtag "#PIGFOOT" on June 6, 2025 following his public falling-out with...

Did the footage shown to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 21, 2025 in the Oval Office capture a...