Technology

Did U.K.'s Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly threaten to arrest X owner Elon Musk along with other "336 million Americans"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories reviewed Starmer's public comments about Musk and did not find anything remotely close to what social media attributed to the prime minister. The claim about hundreds of millions to be arrested is implausible on…

Does a real video show the take-off of a "white mega plane" with several decks between the cockpit and the main cabin? No, that's not true: The clip was created using artificial intelligence and an AI detection tool determined that the video was 99.6% "likely to be AI-generated." In addition, an aircraft designed like a skyscraper with wings would not…

Is the color footage showing a 1923 demonstration of one-wheeled roller skates or cycle-skates real? Yes, that's true: The movie footage from 1923 is real, but it has been colorized. This design of the skates by a French inventor was promoted with some races in 1923. Black and white archive footage of a skating demonstration and one of the races…

Does a viral image confirm that now X has "sovereign settings" that allow users to opt out of the social media platform's rules, including moderation? No, that's not true: A search across X's Terms of Service page did not produce a match. Neither did X's Help Center or its revenue-sharing information. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published…

Did OpenAI announce plans to let users "securely connect" ChatGPT to their DNA to modify specific parts of their body? No, that's not true: This fake announcement came from a parody account. A disclaimer in its bio states: "These are fake stories." There is no announcement from OpenAI about technology such as this. The false announcement appeared in a post…

Does a real video show a Tesla Cybertruck carrying solar panels? No, that's not true: The clip is a digital creation, not authentic footage. Cybertrucks, like other electric vehicles, are not designed to be charged while in motion. An AI detection tool concluded that "the video is likely to be AI-generated" after analyzing its content. The claim appeared in a…

Is there a controversial game called Plantation Simulator available to buy on Steam, where players motivate Black workers by whipping them? Yes, that's true: Plantation Simulator was released on Steam on May 12, 2026. The developer describes the game's content this way: "In this game, you will be whipping black people to keep your farm productive, If you whip your…

Did Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and chairman of Block, join the AI company Anthropic? No, that's not true: There have been no news announcements that Dorsey has joined Anthropic. After the true announcement that Andrej Karpathy, the co-founder of OpenAI, was joining Anthropic, a trend of copycat joke announcements popped up on social media. Among the copycat posts…

Did a data center cause a power outage at Six Flags Over Texas in May 2026? No, that's not true: A representative for Six Flags said a construction crew struck an underground power line, causing the outage. There's no evidence that any of the major regional data centers in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area had anything to do with the…

Did Donald Trump post a fake photo of himself walking with an alien? Yes, that's true: The president shared the photo of him walking next to an alien on his Truth Social account on May 17, 2026. An online detection tool rated the photo of the president with the alien as AI-generated. The claim appeared in a May 17, 2026,…

Was this viral image of a star-shaped UFO released by the Department of War in the UFO Files? No, that's not true: The UFO files released by the Trump administration do not include a color photo of a star-shaped UFO that appears to be hovering over water. The image was previously published on the internet on April 9, 2026, a…

Is a viral video that shows "never-before-seen" footage of an unidentified object moving in the sky near a helicopter flying, included in the UFO Files that were released by the Trump administration and the Department of War? No, that's not true: The black and white video does not appear in the publicly available UFO files released by the Trump administration…

Did X user @iamasoothsayer write in 2022, "2026: Hantavirus"? Yes, that's true: The original post, from June 2022, read, "2023: Corona ended" and "2026: Hantavirus." A copy of the post was archived by The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine in 2022. X's user documentation does not currently list a way for users to retroactively edit the publication date or time of…

Is it illegal to leave a three-star Google restaurant review in Germany? No, that's not true: It is legal to leave a three-star review, but German law supports the restaurant's commercial reputation. If a business challenges reviews as defamatory Google will remove them, with provisions for the reviewer to appeal. Where reviews are removed, Google displays a non-exact count --…

Is a video real that shows a squirrel spinning on top of a Waymo car? No, that's not true: The clip is a digital creation, not authentic footage. It includes a faint AI watermark in the upper-left corner and visual glitches in the background, both of which are common indicators of synthetic media. Also, an AI detection tool stated that…

Is a video that shows Kai Trump, the president's granddaughter, saying, "I will never accept Bettina Anderson as my mother," real? No, that's not true: The clip is clearly labeled "AI-generated" in the bottom-left corner of the frame. The TikTok account that originally posted it also included a tag that reads: "Creator labeled as AI-generated." The claim appeared in a…

Did Donald Trump post about Apple CEO Tim Cook bragging that he called him to "kiss my ass"? Yes, that's true: President Trump posted a tribute to outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook on his Truth Social account on April 21, 2026, the day after Apple announced Cook's departure. In the post, Trump recalled that Cook called him early in his…

Is a paper by Dr. Drew Pinsky, Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Harvey Risch, and nine others claiming that ivermectin and mebendazole improve cancer outcomes in 84.4% of cases a proper medical study? No, that's not true: Research experts told Lead Stories that the paper relies on an uncontrolled, self-reported survey with major bias, no independent verification of diagnoses or outcomes,…

Did Lucas Morel discover a World War II era resistance printing operation in a secret room hidden in his basement in Lyon, France? No, that's not true: This fictional clickbait story set in Lyon, France originated on YouTube and is illustrated with AI-generated images. Lyon is known as the "Capital of the Resistance" in France, but other details of this…

Does a real video show a hands-free floating drone-powered umbrella? No, that's not true: The video of a woman doing chores on a dairy farm on a rainy day is AI-generated. Engineers have experimented with various approaches to make this idea a reality, but this specific video is not real. The video appeared in a post on X published by…