Just Because It's Trending Doesn't Mean It's True — Fact checking at the speed of likes since 2015

Does a video show evidence that dog food is being made with ground up cardboard as a main ingredient? No, that's not true: The video on social media features clips showing real scenes from several sources including dog food manufacturing plants and trash recycling facilities. There is no evidence the ground cardboard pulp shown in one clip is going into…

Did U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi successfully sue American basketball player Brittney Griner, preventing the athlete from participating in the Olympic Games? No, none of that is true: No credible media organization ever reported that, as of August 19, 2025. When Lead Stories checked specialized legal resources, those searches showed no confirmation that such a lawsuit ever existed. The claim…

Did Sen. Bernie Sanders get a $44 million USAID grant after he dropped out of the 2016 presidential race? No, that's not true: That story originated on a satirical Facebook page. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The claim appeared in an August 18, 2025 Facebook post (archived here) on…

Does a viral bodycam video authentically show a cop mistaking a Black lawyer for a defendant and ordering him to sit in the back of a courtroom? No, that's not true: The video originated from a channel that publishes re-enactments using the same actors repeatedly in supposedly unrelated roles and situations. The channel's homepage description acknowledges that it posts "fictional…

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 glitches and discrepancies typical of AI generated images and at least one detection tool found signs of deepfake content. One…

Did DOGE discover Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler has a hidden net worth of $100 million? No, that's not true: The post spreading that Nadler rumor and the false claim about his vast wealth came from a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer and a warning that all the contents of the page are fabricated. The owner of the page is…

Did the Nobel Committee quietly remove President Donald Trump's name from the list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize? No, that's not true: The nominations list for a Nobel Peace Prize is private, and not made public until 50 years after it is awarded. The meme making the claim said the removal was done "quietly," yet it also shows…

Will the earth experience "colder weather than ever before" during the "aphelion phenomenon" in August, 2025, as its elliptical orbit takes it to its most distant-from-the-Sun position of the year, as multiple social media posts claim? No, that's not true: Earth's distance from the Sun changes daily and at aphelion, the Earth's distance from the Sun is only about 3%…

Was Oprah Winfrey "ordered to return $22 million she took from FEMA to rebuild her mansion after the Maui fires", as of mid-August 2025? No, that's not true: The rumor originated from a post by a self-described satire account that carries a disclaimer that says "nothing on this page is real". There were no actual news stories about the order…

Did Kid Rock endorse California Governor Gavin Newsom in mid-August 2025? No, that's not true: The origin of the viral image is satirical. The picture was a parody of Donald Trump's post from the previous year, when he said he accepted Taylor Swift's nonexistent endorsement from an AI generated image. What looked like a statement appeared in a post (archived…

Are stories about a former foster child named Lily Tran getting into Stanford and being called on stage to sing with their celebrity idol real? No, that's not true: There are several versions of the story circulating on social media in which different celebrities keep a promise to sing together if she got into Stanford. Lead Stories found versions with…

Does a video of a grocery meat counter prove the price of rib eye boneless beef has risen to $59.99 a pound in August 2025? No, that's not true: The video shows a package of A5 Wagyu, which is the highest grade of Japanese beef and is subject to a 25.6% U.S. tariff. American-grown rib roasts were priced between $18…

Did North Carolina pass a law allowing foreign doctors to practice medicine in that state without taking a U.S. qualification exam? No, that's not true: The legislation, which was signed into law by North Carolina's governor on July 1, 2025, addresses a severe shortage of primary physicians at the state's rural hospitals by giving non-U.S.-trained doctors "new licensure pathways," according…

Does a social media post about "50 missing children in Virginia" accurately report a spike in the number of minors who were missing in early August of 2025? No, that's not true: The post misrepresents the data. According to local police, there is no such spike, and the number of reports per week was a little lower than average in…

Did WNBA star Angel Reese call for a boycott of American Eagle over their jeans ad with Sydney Sweeney? No, that's not true: There is no record of Reese ever making such a statement about American Eagle or a boycott. The quote attributed to Reese in the post is also fabricated, as there is no publicly available evidence she ever…

Did X.com suspend user privileges of the "Press" account for California Governor Gavin Newsom? No, that's not true: The photo offered as proof was a screenshot of @GovNewsomPress, a fake account. The authentic press account for the governor of California, @GovPressOffice, was not suspended. The claim was made in an August 15, 2025 X post (archived here) on the @americapapabear…

Is the city of Los Angeles planning to convert a parking lot across from a high school in Encino into a camp for homeless people to live in 125 RVs? No, that's not true: The proposal to use a train station parking lot would provide temporary storage space for RVs after the homeless owners move off the street and into…

Does footage labeled "The Metal Sky Man Utah: 8/11/25" document the sighting of some unexplained thing in the clouds? No, that's not true: This is not a real video; it's a still image to which audio, camera shake, and zoom effects were added. The image was taken from a video that has been online since at least July 25, 2025.…

Does a viral social media video show a Ford electric car malfunctioning, with its steering locked and accelerator to the floor? No, that's not true: Lead Stories used geolocation techniques to find the scene of the accident and obtain a police report that a malfunction did not cause the wreck. California Highway Patrol said the driver was arrested for driving…

Does a viral image show "Israeli Major General Shitan Shaul" under arrest on charges related to war crimes in Rafah? No, that's not true: The 2022 photo predates the most recent round of escalation in the region that began with the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The image was originally published online to illustrate news reports about a…