Was the backflip banned after it was performed by the prominent Black figure skater Surya Bonaly in 1998? No, that's not true: Decades ago, the International Skating Union banned somersault jumps, which includes backflips with a one-foot
Publication: international
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dr. Sebi Book Was NOT Banned In Multiple Countries
Was Dr. Sebi's book banned in multiple countries? No, that's not true: There are no credible reports that a book about Dr. Sebi's controversial diet has been banned in any country. The book listed in the claim is available on a website th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Mother Teresa Did NOT Sell Babies, But Workers In Her Charity Were Accused Of Sales Decades After Her Death
Did Mother Teresa sell children from her shelters in India? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to support that claim, but a nun and another worker at a shelter for unwed mothers run by Mother Teresa's charity were arrested in 2018 a
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Time-Lapse Video Of Alaskan Midnight Sun Does NOT Prove The Earth Is Flat — Digitally Altered
Does a time-lapse video of the midnight sun in Alaska show that the sun appears to get smaller as it approaches the horizon -- thus proving that this is a "local sun" that is very close to Earth in a closed environment, part of the firmam
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pfizer Does NOT Have Patent ‘For Tracking Vaccinated Humans Worldwide Via Microwave And Graphene’
Does a picture circulating on social media prove that Pfizer has a patent "for tracking vaccinated humans worldwide via microwave and graphene"? No, that's not true: The pictured document does not mention Pfizer's name, and its office of
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Vaccines Do NOT Cause Nut Allergies In Children
Do vaccines make children allergic to nuts? No, that's not true: There is no known association between childhood vaccines and these sorts of allergic reactions. An assistant professor of pediatrics in allergy and immunology called the not
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Antineoplaston Therapy Is NOT Proven To Cure Cancer
Is antineoplaston therapy developed by Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski an effective cure for cancer? No, that's not true: There is not sufficient evidence that antineoplaston therapy -- an alternative type of cancer treatment using drugs that are
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Invent Computer Viruses To Sell Microsoft Antivirus Programs
Did Bill Gates create computer viruses and infect Microsoft computers to then sell antivirus software programs? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that either Gates or his company deliberately created and spread computer viruses, an
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Maxwell Chikumbutso’s ‘Self-Powered’ Electric Car Invention Is NOT Documented To Function As Claimed
Did Maxwell Chikumbutso, an inventor from Zimbabwe, develop a technology to turn radio frequencies into free, unlimited, green electricity that can power a car that never needs charging, a television or even a neighborhood? No, that's not
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: UK NOT Forbidding COVID Boosters For Healthy People
Does the United Kingdom forbid COVID boosters for healthy people? No, that's not true: A representative of the U.K. Health Security Agency (HSA) called the notion "nonsense." February 12, 2023, marked the end in the U.K. of the autumn boo
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ALC-0315 Ingredient In Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Is NOT Unsafe
Is ALC-0315, an ingredient in Pfizer's COVID vaccine, unsafe? No, that's not true: A claim to the contrary relies on a misunderstanding and misapplication of a safety data sheet, which was created in the context of occupational safety for
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence That Hillary Clinton Has Said ‘It’s Time To Ban Cash To Fight Climate Change’
Did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton state that cash should be banned to combat climate change? No, that's not true: Clinton never made such an assertion during a speech in Gujarat, India, and Lead Stories has not found any proof
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dog Howling In Viral Video Was NOT In The Region Of Earthquake Destruction, Though It Was In Turkey
Did a dog howl into the night trying to warn people in an eastern Turkish town of the coming earthquake disaster? While it's not possible to know why the dog was howling, and the date of the video has not been verified -- this video does
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Turkey’s 7.8 M Quake Was NOT Man-Made Or A HAARP Attack — It Was A Natural Event
Was the devastating temblor that struck Turkey on February 6, 2023 actually a human-caused earthquake triggered by a weapon from an ionospheric research program called HAARP, in response to the Turkish president's move to block an expansi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Being Fat’ Is NOT Illegal In Romania
Is it true that Romania outlaws excessive weight and, therefore, there are "literally zero" people with a body mass above normal? No, that's not true. The website of the Chamber of Deputies, which typically initiates legislation and in so
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Elon Musk Talking About Andrew Tate — It’s A Deepfake
Does a social media video show entrepreneur Elon Musk discussing imprisoned internet influencer Andrew Tate? No, that's not true: This appears to be a "deepfake" video of Musk, now the CEO of Twitter. The video uses publicly available foo
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NOT Accurate That Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley ‘Never Served In Combat’ — Pentagon Provides Proof
Has U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "never served in combat"? No, that's not true: A publicly available profile of Milley lists his numerous operational deployments over the past several decades. The cla
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Sex With COVID-Vaccinated Men Does NOT Cause Menstrual Cycle Problems In Unvaccinated Women
Does having sex with men vaccinated for COVID-19 cause menstrual cycle problems in unvaccinated women and do Pfizer documents confirm this? No, that's not true: The vaccine elements can't be spread from person to person, either through in
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Quantum Healing’ CANNOT Instantly Cure Any Health Issue
Can "quantum healing" work by sensing your body's biofield and harnessing energy for an instant cure? No, that's not true: Physicists and medical doctors say using quantum physics terminology as the basis for medicine-free healing is huck
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Buildings Collapsing In Turkey After February 6, 2023, Quake — Video Was Posted Weeks Earlier
Does this video show high-rise buildings in Turkey falling after the deadly February 6, 2023, earthquake? No, that's not true: The footage was originally posted on TikTok on January 3, 2023, more than a month before the 7.8 magnitude eart
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Of Puppies Rescued From Rubble Was NOT Filmed After Turkey Earthquake — Years-Old Footage Is From India
Does a video on social media show a man helping a mother dog dig her puppies free from the rubble of a building that collapsed in the 2023 earthquake in Turkey? No, that's not true: This video is several years old and was posted on August
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Cats ‘Feeling The Earthquake Before The Earthquake’ In Turkey — It Was Filmed In Saudi Arabia In 2022
Does a video of a large herd of cats show "animals feeling the earthquake before the earthquake," prior to the February 6, 2023, earthquake in Turkey? No, that's not true. The second part of the video is footage that was shot in Jeddah, S
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Church of England NOT Dropping ‘God’ for Gender-Neutral Terms — The Issue Is Being Studied
Will the Church of England halt the use of male pronouns, stop using the term "God," and drop the phrase "our Father" from the Lord's Prayer in favor of more gender-neutral language? No, that's not true: The press office for the Church of
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pfizer Spelled Backwards — Rezifp — Is NOT ‘God Of The Plague And Underworld’
Is Pfizer spelled backward -- Rezifp -- the god of the plague and the underworld? No, that's not true: Rezifp has no meaning. The god of the underworld that social media posts are referring to is spelled Resheph. Pfizer, Inc. is named aft
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Every Disease Is NOT Caused By Iron Deficiency
Is every disease caused by a lack of iron in the body? No, that's not true: There are many different types of disease, including infectious diseases (like hepatitis and COVID-19), non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease and strok
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: This Picture Of Dog Rescuing People Does NOT Show Turkey After February 6, 2023 Earthquake
Does a viral picture of a dog finding people under the rubble of destroyed buildings show the aftermath of the February 6, 2023, earthquake in Turkey? No, that's not true: The photo was taken three years before this natural disaster. The
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Gorillas, Sharks And Wolves DO Get Sick — Scientists, Conservationists Confirm It
Do gorillas, sharks and wolves avoid illnesses because they do not eat chemically treated food like humans do? No, that's not true: Gorillas and wolves, both mammals, do get sick and can contract infections and diseases, wildlife experts
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Moderna CEO Did NOT Admit Company Produced 100,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses In 2019
Did Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel admit that the company produced 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2019 before the pandemic began? No, that's not true: A video snippet shared to social media does not make it clear Bancel is saying his com
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Turkey’s Massive Earthquake Is NOT Political Attack — It’s A True 7.8 Magnitude Temblor
Was the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria on February 6, 2023, fake and actually a planned, politically motivated attack against the Kurdish people in the region? No, that's not true: Seismic acti
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Thailand Does NOT Plan To ‘Nullify’ Pfizer-BioNTech Contracts — NO Evidence COVID-19 Vaccination Caused Thai Princess’ Collapse
Did the government of Thailand announce plans to cancel COVID-19 vaccine contracts with Pfizer-BioNTech after a suspected connection between the Pfizer vaccine and Princess Bajrakitiyabha's December 2022 collapse was established? No, that
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Major Tsunami Did NOT Hit Turkey After February 6, 2023, Earthquake
Did a major tsunami hit Turkey soon after the February 6, 2023, earthquake? No, that's not true: Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency reported on February 6, 2023, that there was no danger of a tsunami striking the countr
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show ‘Ascension Happening Now In Turkey During Earthquake’
Does a viral video show "proof" of "ascension" in Turkey during the deadly earthquake on February 6, 2023? No, that's not true: The clip itself bears a label that indicates it has been digitally altered. The claim appeared in a video on F
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Local’ Vigilante Did NOT Shoot Down ‘Chinese Spy Balloon’ — Image Shows Comedian Sam Hyde
Did a "local man" singlehandedly shoot down "in an EXTRAORDINARY act of vigilantism" the "Chinese spy balloon" recently flying over the continental United States? No, that's not true: The meme that makes this vigilante claim shows a comed
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show 2023 Southern Turkey Earthquake — It’s 2021 Condo Collapse In Surfside, Florida
Does video footage posted on social media show a tall apartment building in southern Turkey collapsing from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 6, 2023? No, that's not true: This footage is not recent and is not from Turkey. It shows
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Letter Demanding Ukraine Refugee Info From Hosts Did NOT Come From UK Government Department — It’s A Fake
Did a British government department ask families hosting Ukrainian refugees to report adult males to the Ukrainian embassy in January 2023? No, that's not true. A spokesperson for the UK Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communitie
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pandemics Do NOT Happen Every 100 Years
Do pandemics happen every 100 years? No, that's not true: A post making the claim cherry-picks disease outbreaks, excluding obvious examples. It also misrepresents basic facts about the pandemics it does list, including the years in which
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Elon Musk Did NOT Threaten To Block DirecTV’s Satellites — It’s Satire
Did Elon Musk threaten in a series of tweets to block DirecTV's satellite dishes after the TV provider banned NewsMax from their channel lineup? No, that's not true: The story is labeled satire on the website that published it. SpaceXMani
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Elon Musk NOT Endorsing Quantum Ai Crypto Platform Despite Falsified CBC Report
Did business mogul Elon Musk and Canadian celebrities endorse the "new" cryptocurrency platform Quantum Ai, according to a video supposedly from the CBC? No, that's not true: CBC News told Lead Stories that they did not publish the video
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Safe Blood Donation’ Blood Bank Is NOT Open in 16 Countries, Does NOT Offer Unvaccinated ‘Pure Blood’
Has an international blood bank called Safe Blood Donation been opened in at least 16 countries to offer "pure blood," free of COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: A disclaimer on the company's website says the Safe Blood Donation bloo
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: British Museums Have NOT Banned The Word ‘Mummy’ As Of February 2, 2023
Was the word "mummy" banned in British museums to avoid "dehumanising" the remains? No, that's not true: As of this writing, The British Museum still used the word to describe exhibits. Yet at least two other U.K. museums decided to adjus