Fact Check

Did Iceland ban COVID-19 vaccinations? No, that's not true: The Nordic nation has not banned COVID vaccines as of this publication and was actually encouraging at-risk populations to maintain a recommended vaccine schedule. Social media users and publications that pushed the false information regarding a ban did not provide verifiable evidence to support or corroborate the claim. Lead Stories determined…

Did singer Bruce Springsteen wear a shirt that reads, "KEEP AMERICA TRUMPLESS"? No, that's not true: The text on the shirt was added after the photo was taken. Lead Stories found two credible sources, Vice and Getty Images, that show photos of Springsteen in the same pose, but with no text on the T-shirt. The claim appeared on X, formerly…

Did nurse Tiffany Dover disappear from the public eye and stay silent after she fainted after receiving the first COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: She has public social media accounts where she posted in the weeks after getting the shot, several times in 2021 and throughout 2023. Dover spoke publicly about fainting after the COVID vaccine in a video…

Did celebrity Kevin Costner recently refute rumors that he had a hair transplant and share a personal testimonial about the positive results he has seen since he began using the roll-on hair growth product RenewHairX? No, that's not true: A fake audio track promoting a product was dubbed over Costner's voice in a video clip taken from a 2008 guest…

Was a Black Friday video of a lone man entering a store empty of shoppers taken in the U.S. in 2023, reflecting the U.S. economy under President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: This video was shot in the United Kingdom in November 2017. A BBC News correspondent posted this video on what was then Twitter, now X, in 2017,…

Did Dior fashion house replace Bella Hadid with Israeli model May Tager due to Hadid's support of Palestine? No, that's not true: Hadid left Dior and joined beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury in March 2023, as the company publicly announced on its social media pages. This was seven months before the 2023 Hamas-Israel war erupted. Tager is not new to Dior.…

Does a post on social media confirm that a Palestinian family grieved over a doll wrapped in white for burial, staging their loss? No, that's not true: The available body of evidence strongly suggests that the footage showed the body of an infant. The scene was shot from multiple angles by at least two different people, and both said it…

Is oregano in its natural form known to definitively "protect against cancer?" No, that's not true: The herb itself has anti-cancer properties, and herbal extracts have been shown to inhibit -- and even kill -- cancerous cells in laboratory studies using human cells, a dietician confirmed to Lead Stories. However, we found no evidence that clinical studies have occurred in…

Does drinking a mixture of carrots, onions and garlic in lime juice cure "any form of cancer" between stages one and three? No, that's not true: The vice president of research from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) told Lead Stories that there is no evidence to support this claim and to claim that this mixture can cure all…

Do NFL referees now have the authority to disqualify players for kneeling in protest during the national anthem? No, that's not true: This claim comes from a satirical website that has a history of fabricating content surrounding popular topics. The site carries a disclaimer that states, "Everything on this website is fiction." Lead Stories found no credible reports about what…

Did the Walt Disney Company lose 23 million subscribers after "trying to cancel Elon Musk"? No, that's not true: This claim appeared in an article on a satirical website known for publishing fabricated content. The website has a disclaimer that reads, "Everything on this website is fiction." The claim appeared in an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on November…

Can "Americans in need" get $5,000 in cash for free through the American Emergency Fund "just in a few minutes"? No, that's not true: The website named in this offer gathers sensitive personal data from applicants for a supposed personal loan and then shares it with a broad range of unidentified entities. This practice may expose people to identity theft.…

Does a New York Post headline claim that James Gordon Meek, a former investigative journalist for ABC who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in September 2023, also "debunked" the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory? No, that's not true: Such a headline never appeared in the New York Post. Additionally, there's no evidence that Meek ever wrote a story about Pizzagate. The…

Does the listing of "Pneumonia mycoplasma" in Pfizer's guidance on adverse event reports associated with its COVID-19 vaccine prove that the shot caused a respiratory outbreak in China? No, that's not true: It's a fundamental misreading of standard vaccine documents, which direct doctors to rapidly report any problems from a long list as a precaution. The Centers for Disease Control…

Was Taylor Swift photographed wearing a hat made of pieced-together preserved faces skinned from real human beings? No, that's not true on two points: The model in the photo is not pop star Swift but the special effects artist who partnered in making the hat, Kayla Arena. And the hat is made from latex, silicone, crepe hair and synthetic eyelashes…

Did the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps place talk show host Stephen Colbert under arrest for committing treason and defrauding the country as of November 25, 2023? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. The website where this claim was made publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article…

Were reports that talk about a supposed imminent "EMP Threat" or "Blackout Warfare" against the U.S. "leaked" from the Department of Homeland Security, and were these documents "classified" in any way? No, that's not true: The reports that are sometimes used on social media to promote a documentary by Teddy Daniels are publicly available and easily accessible on the internet.…

Could a call to a hotline number expedite receiving a "stimulus deposit" in November 2023? No, that's not true: The federal government was not distributing such payments as of this writing. The toll-free number shared on social media was a sex hotline, not a contact of a federal agency. The claim reappeared in a post on Facebook on November 29,…

Was a lone train car labeled "Molten Sulfur" abandoned with molten sulfur inside in Marietta, Oklahoma? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the railway on which the car was sitting said that the train car was empty and was being repaired to stop it from potentially derailing. At the time of writing, the train car was not sitting on…

Did Joe Rogan discuss a "scathing documentary" about an impending attack on the United States during an episode of Rogan's podcast partly shown in a video posted on Facebook? No, that's not true: A transcript of the full episode featuring Russell Brand never mentions Teddy Daniels or his documentary about an attack that supposedly would wipe out 90 percent of…