Does a viral image prove that Argentina-England referee Ismail Elfath "asked for a photo" with Argentina's captain Lionel Messi? No, that's not true: The photo was cropped to remove the captain of the opposing team, who was posing with Me
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: FAKE Story Claims Florida Officer ‘Lena Hale’ Impregnated 13 Inmates — Facility Does Not Exist
Was a real Florida corrections officer named "Lena Hale" arrested for impregnating inmates? No, that's not true: No credible news organizations reported the story. Viral posts making the claim shared images showing a person supposedly hav
PolitiFact→ Trump’s speech may focus on 2020 election. Here’s a primer on foreign interference, voting security
Ahead of Trump speech, we revisit 2020 election fraud claims
Full Fact→ Video of Italian Prime Minister saying Sharia law won’t be allowed in Italy is AI-generated
A video of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saying "we won’t allow Sharia law to be implemented in Italy" circulating online is an AI-generated deepfake.
Full Fact→ Smashing a window to rescue a dog in a hot car could still be classed as criminal damage
Posts circulating on Facebook incorrectly claim police say you will not be charged for this so long as you’ve taken photos at the scene and have evidence of hot weather.
Full Fact→ Viral clip does not show Nigel Farage rehearsing a ‘grief walk’ after Ann Widdecombe’s death
This video predates Ms Widdecombe’s recent death and actually shows Mr Farage in 2024.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: EDITED Photo Shows Edinburgh Castle Displaying Argentine Flags Ahead Of Match Against England
Does a real photo show Edinburgh Castle displaying Argentine flags ahead of the World Cup match against England on July 15, 2026? No, that's not true: The image appears to have been digitally edited. The Argentine flags were added to an o
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Erling Haaland Saying He Will Support Argentina Over England In World Cup — Fake Captions
Are the captions on a video of Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland saying he will support Argentina over England in the World Cup accurate? No, that's not true: The captions on the video are fake, and Haaland never said he would suppor
PolitiFact→ Some ingredients in nonalcoholic 'social tonics' can interact with medications or health conditions
Common herbs in “social tonics” can interact with meds
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO EVIDENCE Family Of ‘Marcus Williams’ Sued Bank For $500,000 After He Was Supposedly Electrocuted Robbing An ATM
Did the family of Marcus Williams sue a bank for $500,000 after he was electrocuted trying to rob an ATM in Houston? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that such an incident ever happened to anyone named Marcus Williams or anyone e
PolitiFact→ Donald Trump’s cargo toll plan in Strait of Hormuz would have been unprecedented, and likely illegal
Trump toll for Strait of Hormuz would’ve been unprecedented
PolitiFact→ Donald Trump – Data centers need a lot of energy, but President Donald Trump's estimate is far too high
The AI industry needs "more energy than the entire country produces right now ... In fact some people say almost double."
Full Fact→ Keir Starmer at PMQs: five times we fact checked the outgoing PM
As Sir Keir Starmer prepares to face his final Prime Minister’s Questions, we’ve collected some of the most memorable claims we fact checked during his time at the despatch box.
Full Fact→ Is the national roll-out of gigabit broadband on track?
Lead Stories→ Prebunk: FAKE AI Sandra Bullock Videos Try To Seduce You With Congeniality At Speed — Gravity Of These Scams On The Net Is Infamous
Have you seen viral videos showing Sandra Bullock asking for personal information of followers? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos recently and has found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. They do
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO EVIDENCE Russia Hit Skyfall Facility Visited By Lindsey Graham
Do viral posts prove that Russia destroyed the Skyfall drone production facility in Ukraine visited by late Senator Lindsey Graham hours before his death? No, that's not true: The posts don't cite any sources. No credible media outlets re
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: FAKE Video Of Man Catching Wife ‘In The Act’ Kissing Another Man — It’s Skit With Actors
Is a video of a man catching his wife "in the act" of kissing another man and walking away instead of getting upset authentic? No, that's not true: The video shows a sketch with actors who are creating a scenario. The TikTok account that
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Police Did NOT Decide Against Releasing CCTV Footage Of M.P. Ann Widdecombe Murder Suspect To Hide His Race, Ethnicity
Did police in the United Kingdom decide not to release CCTV footage of a suspect in the murder of Conservative Member of Parliament Ann Widdecombe to hide his race or ethnicity? No, that's not true: When Devon and Cornwall Police announce
FactCheck.org→ Explaining What We Know About the Obama Presidential Center Contractor Disputes
Q: Does Barack Obama still owe contractors or subcontractors money for work done on his presidential library in Chicago? A: Some subcontractors have said they were not paid for their work. The Obama Foundation told us that the construction project
PolitiFact→ X posts – Social media users spread conspiracy theories about Mitch McConnell after photo release
A photo showing Mitch McConnell and his wife is from his 2023 hospitalization or is AI generated.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: FAKE Garbled Newspaper Text Does NOT Appear In Mitch McConnell’s Proof Of Life Photo
Does zooming in on the newspaper pictured in a July 12, 2026, press release from Sen. Mitch McConnell's office show that the photo was AI-generated? No, that's not true: The fake close-up image of the newspaper text is the result of an AI
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Mitch McConnell Photo Released In July 2026 Has NOT Been Publicly Available Since 2023
Has a photo of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, released by his office on July 12, 2026, been publicly available since 2023? No, that's not true: A reverse image search found no evidence that the image had been published three years earl
PolitiFact→ FIFA President Gianni Infantino potentially faces investigations over Trump’s World Cup involvement
FIFA President faces allegations of U.S. favoritism
FactCheck.org→ FactCheck.org Wins Sigma Delta Chi Award for Fact-Checking
FactCheck.org has won the 2025 Sigma Delta Chi award for fact-checking from the Society of Professional Journalists. This is our fourth win in the fact-checking category and our fifth award from SPJ overall. Our winning entry of three stories by Se
Full Fact→ Vaccines funded by Bill Gates did not cause autism to increase in Vietnam
A viral video suggests vaccines caused autism in Vietnam, but this idea has been widely debunked.
Lead Stories→ Warning: Google Gemini SynthID AI Watermark Detector Appears To Mix Up Results In Same Chat — Consistently Shows False Positives And Negatives Under Certain Conditions
While investigating a video for a recent fact-check, Lead Stories encountered a bizarre issue with the SynthID AI detector in Google's Gemini chatbot. Over several chats it appeared to contradict an earlier detection result for the same v
PolitiFact→ What are kratom’s uses and risks and how are states regulating it?
What is kratom and where is it illegal in the US?
Full Fact→ Harry Kane didn’t refuse to wear a rainbow symbol in matches
Claims being shared online that the England captain stated he will not wear the LGBT rainbow symbol in upcoming matches are false.
New York Times→ Trump Justifies $2 Billion Made as President With Inaccurate Claims
President Trump has wrongly attributed the $2 billion windfall he gained during his second term to a hot stock market and claimed that he was the only president to donate his salary.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: UNSOURCED Wikipedia Page Does NOT Prove Egypt-Argentina Match Referee Francois Letexier Grew Up In ‘Orthodox Jewish Family’
Do viral screenshots of a Wikipedia article about French soccer referee François Letexier confirm that he is Jewish? No, that's not true: The edits made after the 2026 Egypt-Argentina FIFA World Cup game didn't link to credible sources s
PolitiFact→ Donald Trump – Trump exaggerates about how much illegal immigration raised rental housing prices
President Joe Biden "raised the cost of housing by 40 and 50% — the cost of (a) rental — because they were housing illegal aliens in all of those empty units."
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Image Does NOT Show FIFA President Infantino Making Phone Call During Egypt-Argentina Match — He Was At A Different Game
Did a caption accompanying a viral image correctly claim it showed FIFA President Gianni Infantino making a phone call after Egypt took a 2-0 lead over Argentina? No, that's not true: Infantino did not attend this World Cup game in Atlant
Full Fact→ HAARP can’t cause heatwaves
We’ve seen false claims circulating online that the research project HAARP is behind the recent heatwaves in the UK and Europe.
Full Fact→ Sample size matters—so World Cup stats aren’t always as impressive as they sound
When you hear stats about a country’s World Cup history, remember it probably comes from a few dozen games at most.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: FAKE France 24 Video Does NOT Accurately Summarize UPA-Related Monument Legislation
Does a real English-language France 24 video factually describe a Ukrainian bill about construction of a monument aimed at commemorating national heroes? No, that's not true: The head of France 24 English told Lead Stories that the French
PolitiFact→ What Trump’s communism claims miss about Democrats and democratic socialists
Trump wrongly equates the Democratic Party with communism
PolitiFact→ Paul Renner – FL governor’s race: Did Jay Collins sponsor a bill giving permanent tax breaks to AI data centers?
Jay Collins sponsored a bill to give AI hyperscale data centers “permanent tax incentives.”
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: REAL Email In Epstein Files Contains Joke About Mitt Romney’s Wife And Barack Obama
Is an email from the Epstein files with a joke about Mitt Romney's wife and Barack Obama real? Yes, that's true: The email appears among the Epstein files on the Justice Department website. It was sent to Jeffrey Epstein by Emirati busine
FactCheck.org→ Alaska Senate Race Ads Mislead on Peltola’s Votes on Military Pay Raise
Ads in the Alaska Senate race are trading competing claims about former Rep. Mary Peltola’s votes on military pay raises. In late 2023, Peltola, a Democrat, voted in favor of a compromise defense bill that included a 5.2% pay increase for mem
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Image Trump Posted as ‘Retribution’ Against Iran Does NOT Show July 2026 U.S. Bombing — It Is June 2025 Israeli Attack
Does an image posted by President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account as evidence of "retribution" against Iran show a U.S. bombing in July 2026? No, that's not true: The photo shows a previous attack on Iran by Israel that took plac