Did a protester point a gun at the "Karen and Ken" couple who were pointing weapons at marchers during a demonstration in St. Louis? No, that is not true. A photograph showing Patricia and Mark McCloskey holding guns pointed at peaceful protesters walking past their property shows a person holding a professional boom microphone pointed at the couple, not a…

Did the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. spike in recent days because of increased testing? No, that's not true: It's an assertion made without supporting evidence. Data clearly show there is no simple cause-and-effect relationship between the number of tests and the number of coronavirus cases. For instance, the number of cases reported to the Centers for Disease…

Did Facebook say that if you support the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) then you will get kicked off its platform? No, that's not true: A Facebook spokeswoman denied the claim. Also, the verified account of the NRA remains active, as do countless other accounts where people have expressed support for the NRA. The claim appeared as a Facebook…

Did the BBC accidentally publish and then pull a story saying Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to intensive care as coronavirus symptoms worsened? No, that's not true: the viral screenshot that appears to show a story dated July 11, 2020 is an obvious forgery based on an older story about Boris Johnson. An example of the viral image can be seen…

Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that the common cold counts as a positive COVID-19 result? No, that's not true: The CDC was talking about antibody tests, not viral tests, when it said that a positive result may mean that a person has antibodies from an infection with a virus, such as the one that causes…

Does the organic sulfur compound methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) cure stage 4 breast cancer and reverse autism as well as relieve lupus symptoms? No, all but a grain of this is inflated or outright false. The grain of truth is that MSM has been found to reduce joint inflammation for some lupus sufferers. The other claims are false, as there is no…

Is it true that no doctor on television advises people to boost their immune system with vitamins and natural light, instead only pushing vaccines and drugs? No, that's not true. Plenty of coverage, including guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been given to the strong benefits of vitamins and sunlight. The claim is in a meme…

Was Joe Biden caught saying the "n-word" in 1985 in a leaked video? No, that's misleading. A video clip of then-Senator Joe Biden saying the n-word twice is taken out of context. The video was not "leaked," as it is publicly available on C-SPAN. The video is from a public Senate hearing where Biden was reading a document that used…

Is a former Arizona police officer who in 2016 shot and killed a Texas man as the man was crawling toward the officer, asking the officer not to shoot, still on the police force in Mesa, Arizona? No, that is not true. The officer, Philip Brailsford, who killed Daniel Shaver in the hallway of a La Quinta Inn, was briefly…

Can a person with coronavirus be counted as more than one case, if he or she takes multiple tests and the results of those tests keep coming back positive? No, that's not true: Case counts and testing counts are separate. A person can have multiple tests in their file but they are still counted as only one case of coronavirus.…

Did Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift say that the Statue of Liberty should be taken down in an article posted by a site named G1? No, that's not true: a screenshot with headline making that claim is bogus and was not really published by Brazil's Globo News. The headline appeared in a viral image and it read "Taylor Swift Says…

Is the COVID-19 pandemic a conspiracy manufactured by "Deep State Democrats" and the "mass media" to disrupt, even rig, the upcoming presidential election in a bid to topple Donald Trump? And did the coronavirus provide the perfect cover for the mass racial justice protests since the death of George Floyd after being knelt on for nearly nine minutes by a…

Do members of Congress receive a full-pay retirement after serving one term? No, that's not true. Regardless of length of service, federal law limits the starting payout to a member of Congress to no more than 80% of his or her final salary. U.S. senators, elected to six-year terms, and representatives, with two-year terms, must serve at least five years…

Did a nurse prove that COVID-19 tests were being faked at a San Francisco hospital? No, that's not true: The source of the claim is admittedly at least four times removed from the purported false testing and no credible evidence is offered in the viral post. The anonymous meme suggests that hospitals have a financial incentive to get positive tests…

Did Mel Gibson say that Hollywood is controlled by "parasites" who are involved in child sacrifice and pedophilia? No, there is nothing to substantiate the old claim that Gibson said it while on a promotional tour in 2017. The actor's spokesman told Lead Stories, "I can assure you that he never said such a thing ... he never stated that…

Did anti-fascist activists linked to the Black Lives Matter movement attack and smash the windows of a bus for "mentally disabled kids?" No, that's not true: The video shows left-wing protesters chasing and hitting a bus carrying right-wing activists who were fleeing after a confrontation in Portland, Oregon, in the summer of 2019. "Demonstrators dressed in black and masking their…

Did Michelle Obama have to surrender her law license because of insurance fraud? No, that's not true: The former first lady's law license is valid, she's never been subjected to disciplinary action and she's on "voluntary inactive status," a spokesperson for the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of the Supreme Court of Illinois told Lead Stories. The claim that…

Did Erykah Badu call on people to stop buying some types of rap music because most rappers aren't doing anything to stand up against racism? No, that's not true: The neo-soul singer herself has said the words in a viral social meme aren't hers. The meme appeared in a post (archived here), published on Facebook on June 26, 2020, under…

Was a truck driver found dead on Interstate 5 in California and positive for COVID-19 hauling a load of made-in-China masks contaminated with the novel coronavirus? No, that's not true. The California Highway Patrol said the photo included in a meme making that claim is from an old accident prior to 2020, and the driver died of a medical emergency,…

Does wearing a face mask remove your ability to legally carry a concealed weapon? No, that's not true: Laws vary by state, but authorities in several states have issued guidance making it clear that their law does not prohibit someone from lawfully carrying a concealed weapon while wearing a mask to help to stop the spread of COVID-19. Lead Stories…