Did the FBI name Bryan Cole of Fairfax, Virginia, as the suspect in the January 6 pipebomb case in Washington, D.C.? No, that's not true: The suspect named by the FBI on December 4, 2025, is Brian J. Cole, age 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, who is identified as Black in court records in several Virginia traffic cases. An X post…
Is a video of an Iraqi woman saying in Swedish that she used the Swedish welfare system "to the max" real? Yes, it is: Tara Sabah Mohammed Saleh said she was being sarcastic during a TikTok Live stream in reaction to racist social media comments that told her "to go home." A Swedish news report called her a pro-Palestinian activist…
Did a real Domino's delivery rider in Japan carry a pepperoni pizza in an insulated backpack to the top of Mount Fuji? No, that's not true: An AI-generated photo and story circulating on social media are not real, but they are based on something that did happen and went viral with real photos. Umanami Futoshi is a Japanese office worker…
Was a Catholic nun fatally stabbed in Croatia by an "unnamed migrant man" in late November 2025? No, that's not true: Sister Marija Tatjana Zrno is alive. Police concluded she stabbed herself and they were investigating her for filing a false crime report. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on December 1, 2025. It read:…
Did the U.S. Coast Guard report that drugs were found on just 21% of the suspected drug-trafficking vessels stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard in the 13 months before airstrikes, while the rest -- 79% -- did nothing wrong? No, that's not true: Social media posts making the 21% claim reversed the numbers shared by Sen. Rand Paul, who was…
Does a video show a graveyard of green electric scooters that ran out of battery life and were abandoned because it is too expensive to replace them? No, that's not true: This video is real, but the reason the electric scooters were taken out of service had nothing to do with the batteries. Slowing demand for the bikes led the…
Did CNN refuse to talk about a viral video showing missile strikes on a "runner" near a church during the Obama administration? No, that's not true: The footage is from the video game "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare", which was released in 2007, well before Obama became President in 2009. CNN did write about the game at the time.…
Are videos showing a prisoner jumping through a drop ceiling to escape a courtroom after he was sentenced to 30 years in prison real? No, that's not true: These videos were generated by an artificial intelligence tool. The videos are labeled as "AI-generated media" on the TikTok channel where they were first shared. Glitches and movements that defy physical realities…
Was Pete Hegseth's nameplate at the December 2, 2025, cabinet meeting misspell his title as "SSECRETARY OF WAR"? Yes, that's true: Photos and video recorded by several media agencies and on the White House website confirmed that an image showing that spelling is real. The photo appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on December 2, 2025. The…
Did TMZ publish real photos of Diddy hanging out in the Fort Dix federal prison yard with fellow inmates? No, that's not true: The images bear a fake TMZ watermark. The celebrity news outlet published an article to clarify that the images circulating are fake. They instructed readers, "If you see these sorts of pics or videos on socials, especially…
Do leaked CCTV videos really show Israeli missiles striking Iranian missile bases? No, that's not true: Several clips in a viral video with that description contain several glitches typical of AI generated footage. It was published by an account that has posted AI-generated imagery in the past. One of the clips did originate with an Iranian TV station. The video…
Does a viral video show a real scene where lightning struck a fishing lake and caused a massive spout of water and many fish to fly high into the air? No, that's not true: This video was posted by a TikTok account which posts AI-generated videos with no disclaimer. Many of the videos feature unlikely scenarios involving wild animals --…
Did Ariana Grande or Cynthia Erivo say they are in a "non-demi-curious semi-binary" relationship? No, that's not true: The viral rumor originated from a page that described itself as satire. In part, the disclaimer said that it's where "truth goes to die". The claim originated from a post (archived here) published on Facebook on November 18, 2025. It opened: Cynthia…
Have Ukrainian investigators recovered the jewels stolen from the Louvre museum from the assets of a Ukrainian billionaire who is an associate of President Zelenskyy? No, that's not true: The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), which purportedly seized the jewels, has not posted anything about it on social media. The NABU has denied it was true in a statement…
Did AOC show up in a town named "Barron, Delaware" to bail out Hunter Biden with a $250,000 bond related to an arrest for narcotics and disorderly conduct charges? No, that's not true: The story originated in a meme from a satirical Facebook page that originally carried a disclaimer. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into…
Did Ohio Democrat Amy Acton spread a fake video of Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy advocating year-round school, as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: Four days into the controversy over year-round school, the Ramaswamy campaign had not publicly stated the video was fake and declined to answer questions from Lead Stories. The Columbus Dispatch quoted an un-named…
Does a video show the final verdict being handed down in the trial of Decarlos Brown for the killing of Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed while riding a train in Charlotte, North Carolina? No, that's not true: This video montage was originally posted on Instagram with a caption suggesting that it was a hypothetical outcome, "This an idea of…
Did Disney World announce it is closing permanently at the end of 2025? No, that's not true: The rumor originated from a satire website. As of this writing, no credible news outlet has reported that Disney World is scheduled to shut down for good. The claim appeared in a reel (archived here) published on Facebook on November 21, 2025. The…
Is Iwona B. Horyn the real name of the acting chief security officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security? Yes, that's true: Some social media users have questioned if this was a joke, but Horyn's name is listed on several pages of the DHS official website. There is a LinkedIn profile with the same information and photograph used in…
Did Elon Musk acquire Donald Trump's Truth Social for $10 billion in November 2025? No, that's not true: A message purporting to be from Donald Trump's Truth Social account was fake. The person who posted a fake screenshot of the fake message wrote that they did so to entertain themselves. There are no news reports of Musk buying Truth Social…
