A November 29 2020 TheScoop.us item bearing the headline “Candace Owens Wins Huge Lawsuit Against Biased Liberal Facebook Fact-Checkers” made a titular claim that Owens successfully sued Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers, although
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Truth or Fiction?→ ‘My Wife Has Cancer’ Reddit Comment Spreads Virally, Prompts Discussion of American Healthcare System
A November 30 2020 post to Reddit’s r/awfuleverything spread virally across platforms, prompting discussions all over social media about u/binkybrain’s original comment and the cost of cancer care in the United States: Poor guy
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Contains Falsehoods And Unproven Claims About Purported Voter Fraud In Arizona
Is a video discussing purported voter fraud in Arizona factual? No, it's not: The video contains falsehoods and unproven claims. Specifically, 35,000 votes were not added to Democratic candidates, as Lead Stories has previously reported,
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Twitter Suspend Bobby Piton, an ‘Election Whistleblower,’ to Prevent People ‘Understanding His Testimony’?
On November 30 2020, the name “Bobby Piton” became a trending topic on social media following a “hearing” at an Arizona Hyatt hotel about Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Piton was not mentioned by
FactCheck.org→ Trump Repeats Baseless, False Claims About the Election
In his first interview since Election Day, President Donald Trump recapped baseless, false and misleading claims he has made before of a “rigged” election. Trump spoke by phone with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Nov. 29. In the intervi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: U.S. Army’s Special Forces Did NOT Seize A CIA Server Farm In Frankfurt, Germany, Resulting In Deaths Of U.S. Soldiers
Did the U.S. Army's Special Forces seize a CIA server farm in Frankfurt, Germany, resulting in deaths of U.S. soldiers? No, that's not true: A U.S. Army spokesperson told Lead Stories the claim is false. Lead Stories has previously debunk
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: This Thanksgiving Themed Anti-Marijuana Ad Is NOT Genuine — It’s A Tribute To A 1980s Slasher Flick
Did the Ad Council produce an ad warning people to not try marijuana, "Not Even Once," for fear that it might inspire a murderous craze? No, that's not true: This satirical ad is a tribute to a 1987 slasher flim called "Blood Rage," which
Full Fact→ Is the UK’s trade deal with Japan better than the EU’s?
A clip of Emily Thornberry, Shadow Secretary for International Trade, comparing the old EU-Japan trade deal with the new UK-Japan trade deal has gone viral on Twitter. The UK recently agreed a new deal with Japan, which will govern trade between the tw
Health Feedback→ CDC data shows higher number of deaths in 2020 compared to previous years; Johns Hopkins student article compared percentages, not raw numbers
REVIEW Several articles, such as this one by LifeSiteNews and this one by the Gateway Pundit, published at the end of November 2020, claim that a “Johns Hopkins study” had shown no excess deaths in the U.S. due to COVID-19, and that the study wa
The Dispatch→ Can Justice Alito Overturn Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decisions By Himself?
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Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dominion Executive Eric Coomer Is NOT Missing And The Company Has Not Closed Its Headquarters
Is Dominion Voting Systems vice president Eric Coomer missing and has the company closed its headquarters? No, that's not true: A video repeats unfounded claims Lead Stories has previously debunked: that Dominion Voting Systems has shutte
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Johns Hopkins Student Paper Retracted Because CDC Data DOES Show Excess Deaths Caused By Covid-19
Is it true the lethality of COVID-19 is being overblown by government mortality data, and was a Johns Hopkins University student paper censored when it posted a story about that claim? No, that is not true. There is no evidence that offic
Snopes→ High Court Blocks NY Coronavirus Limits on Houses of Worship
As coronavirus cases surge again nationwide the Supreme Court barred New York from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in areas designated as hard hit by the virus.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Does NOT Contain Nanoparticles Never Used Before In Vaccines; Ingredients Are NOT Lethal
Is it true that Pfizer's vaccine candidate to battle COVID-19 is made and stored in such a way that scores of people could be severely sickened or even killed by its use? No, that is a conspiracy theory not supported by scientific studies
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Many Studies Find Masks DO Work Against The Spread Of COVID-19
Do many studies find that cloth masks don't stop viruses like COVID? No, that's not true: An article making that claim does not cite any recent or specific studies showing masks don't work. To the contrary, the Centers for Disease Control
FactCheck.org→ Danish Study Doesn’t Prove Masks Don’t Work Against the Coronavirus
Q: Did a recent study in Denmark show that face masks are useless for COVID-19? A: No. The study found that face masks did not have a large protective effect for wearers — not that masks provide no protection at all or don’t offer benefits to
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf Did NOT Issue This Document of Thanksgiving Rules
Did Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf finalize and issue on October 27, 2020, a list of 13 rules for Thanksgiving household visits? No, that's not true: The document offered in support of the claim is not an official state document. It is design
FactCheck.org→ Checking the Facts in the World of Trump
I guess I picked the right year to take up fact-checking. I had been in journalism for a very long time. I had run a national magazine, overseen news operations at newspapers in many cities, covered Washington during the Watergate era, written columns
Full Fact→ Nadine Dorries says email from her office on vaccines does not reflect her views
A post on Facebook and Twitter showing a screenshot of an email sent from the office of MP Nadine Dorries has gone viral. The email reads: “Thank you for writing to Nadine Dorries MP. I’m Nadine’s caseworker responding on her behalf.
Full Fact→ Better communication needed to tackle gaps in understanding of economic statistics
Economic measures affect our lives in many ways. They can impact how much tax you pay, how much it costs to take out a loan, and how much financial support job seekers receive—to name just a few. But research published today—to which Full F
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: The Astronaut Stone Carving On Spain’s Cathedral of Salamanca Is NOT A Mystery
Is there any question about how a figure of a modern astronaut came to be included in the intricate decorative carvings on a Spanish cathedral built in the 1600s? No, it's well documented in the recent past: The astronaut was added to the
Truth or Fiction?→ Did James Woods Play Rudy Giuliani in a Movie?
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s embarrassing November 2020 continued apace after social media users discovered a clip from what could charitably be called a flattering portrayal of him from nearly two decades earlier. The scene, taken
Truth or Fiction?→ Do Only 3 Percent of Trump Voters Believe Joe Biden is the ‘Legitimate Winner’ of the 2020 Election?
On November 24 2020, Breitbart.com published an article headlined, “Nolte: Only 3% of Trump Voters Believe Joe Biden Is Legitimate Winner,” which began: We all need to keep in mind that, except for a handful of pollsters, polling is irretr
Snopes→ Can Large Thanksgiving Dinners Lead to Jail Time in Oregon While ‘Crack Is Legal’?
Online activists made significant errors while highlighting what they claimed were discrepancies in Oregon law.
Full Fact→ Danish study on mask efficacy only tells us half the story
An article in the Spectator by Professor Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson from the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine claimed that a new study from Denmark shows that wearing face masks “does not significantly reduce the rates of [Covid-19]
Full Fact→ Research suggesting increased Covid-19 risk for dog-owners may be barking up the wrong tree
“They’re known as ‘man’s best friend’, but if you live with a dog, you may unknowingly be increasing your risk of coronavirus.” Daily Mirror, 17 November 2020. “Walking your pet dog may raise your risk of cat
The Dispatch→ Fact Check: Addressing President Trump’s Claims About Rejected Georgia Ballots
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FactCheck.org→ No ‘Landslide’ for Biden, Either
Provided President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College margin of victory holds — and we have seen no reason so far to believe it will not — it will be the same margin won by Donald Trump in 2016. That would leave Biden (as it did Trum
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence Georgia Governor And Secretary Of State Took Money From China To Steal Election From Trump
Did the governor and secretary of state in Georgia take money from China to steal the election from Donald Trump? No, there's zero proof that's true. Lead Stories reached out to the person making the accusation, radio host Hal Turner, to
AFP Fact Check→ Online posts falsely portray Pope Francis and other world leaders as making “devil horns” gesture
Images showing religious leaders and US politicians, including President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, have circulated in numerous social media posts claiming they all are flashing "devil horns", which some consider to be Sat
Truth or Fiction?→ Activists Accuse Facebook of Ignoring Warning on Neo-Nazi Groups’ Spread
An activist group combating the proliferation of white supremacist propaganda online accused Facebook in a November 2020 report of failing to act when alerted to the spread of one such network on its platforms in 2018. “Facebook’s leadersh
Snopes→ ‘I Won the Election’ – How Powerful People Use Lousy Lies To Twist Reality
"Lousy lies" are the types of lies or false truths that seem so obviously implausible that they don’t seem designed to deceive, but rather to signal something else.
Truth or Fiction?→ How to Fight Disinformation: Introduction and Overview
This is the first of a series about how communities can fight back and protect themselves against weaponized disinformation. In 2015 and 2016, new and paranoid strains of political ideology took social media discourse by storm. The details varied by c
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Statistics Show COVID-19 Is NOT ‘The Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated On An Unsuspecting Public’ And Is NOT ‘Just Another Bad Flu’
Is Canadian pathologist Dr. Roger Hodkinson correct when he asserts that COVID-19 is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public" and "just another bad flu"? No, neither of those claims is true: Data from the CDC show th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dr. Anthony Fauci Was NOT Indicted For Treason, Conspiring With The Enemy And Fraud
Was Dr. Anthony Fauci indicted for treason, conspiring with the enemy and fraud? No, that's not true. A video posted by David Zublick on his "Truth Unsealed" Facebook page in May 2020 has gone viral, claiming that Fauci was indicted for c
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: George Soros NOT Arrested For Election Interference, NOT In Federal Custody
Was George Soros arrested by the FBI and is he currently in federal custody in Philadelphia under accusation of election interference? No, that's not true: the Canadian website that ran the story has a track record of publishing hoaxes an
Snopes→ Trump Slams Global Climate Agreement Biden Intends To Rejoin
President Donald Trump railed against the Paris climate accord, telling world leaders at a virtual summit that the agreement was designed to cripple the U.S. economy, not save the planet.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Shredders Destroying Ballots In Cobb County, Georgia
Does a video show the shredding of paper ballots in Cobb County, Georgia, a day after a recount confirmed that Joe Biden won a 14-percent margin over Donald Trump? No, that's not true: A video posted on social media by a woman on November
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: No Evidence Dead People, Animals, Children Voted For Biden In Georgia In The 2020 Election
Did Joe Biden benefit from dead people, animals, and children voting illegally in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election? No, there's no evidence of such voter fraud. Although President Trump warned in July 2020 that he worried about p
FactCheck.org→ The Facts on Trump’s Post-Election Legal Challenges
On Nov. 19, President Donald Trump’s legal team spouted a gusher of false and unfounded allegations of voter fraud at a 90-minute press conference. We could fact check it, but we’re not going to. We’re not going to fact check Rudy Giu