Does a video show U.S. troops captured in Iran? No, that's not true: An online AI video detection tool found that the clips of the U.S. soldiers are fake but are intermixed with a real clip of President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The parts of the video with the troops contain a SynthID watermark indicating it was created…

Did various politicians and celebrities all hand down a "verdict" for a "$120 million ultimatum" to former President Barack Obama over repayments related to Obamacare? No, that's not true: Several such stories naming people as diverse as Jeanine Pirro, Jim Caviezel, Kid Rock and Stevie Nicks issuing the same "ruling" were posted by a network of foreign-run Facebook pages. The…

Are photos of Bill Clinton and Stephen Hawking dressed in pajamas and a princess outfit, respectively, real and found in the Epstein files? No, that's not true: The creator of the images has admitted they were not real. He told Lead Stories he generated the images in Grok and "published them on sites and groups clearly identified as sharing AI-generated…

Does a video show an American oil tanker struck by Iran and burning in the Strait of Hormuz? No, that's not true: The video shows the aftermath of a collision between two oil tankers, neither owned by the United States, in the Gulf of Oman, east of the strait. The video is from the summer of 2025, predating the Middle…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump publicly offer his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to join U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran to "finish off this Khamenei Jr."? No, that's not true: The screenshot of such a post that circulated on social media was digitally manufactured. Trump's account on Truth Social did not show the entry in question, and there was no credible…

Was Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir killed in an Iranian missile strike, despite Israeli media reports that say he died in a "car crash"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Ben-Gvir died in either an Iranian missile strike or a traffic accident. The politician was involved in a wreck in April 2024 but was only "slightly…

Does a satellite image show fires currently burning in the Middle East? No, that's not true: This satellite image dates back to April 1991. It does not show anything currently burning in the Middle East, but shows oil well fires burning in Kuwait during the Gulf War. The image appeared in a post on X (archived here) where it was…

Did a long list of celebrities all say "He will never leave, we have to make him leave, it's up to us to get rid of him" about President Donald Trump? No, that's not true: Actor Robert De Niro was the only celeb who did this, appearing on "The Best People with Nicolle Wallace." False claims that Cher, Pink, Tom…

Do pictures shared on social media show 173 American Delta Force soldiers captured in Iran after a failed U.S. air operation in Tehran? No, that's not true: One image, purportedly showing soldiers parachuting near helicopters, was rated 100% likely to be AI-generated. A second image, purportedly showing captured soldiers marching with their hands behind their backs, bears a visible Google…

Did real never-before-seen images of Trump and Epstein together with young girls originate from a Department of Justice release of Epstein files? No, that's not true: The images are AI-generated and originated from a video published in Nov. 2025 by a tabloid-style Spanish language TikTok account. Credible news sources have not reported on these images, and the DOJ file numbers…