by: Maarten Schenk
» Most Recent
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Fake News: Man Did NOT Die After Being Overcome By Smell Of Scented Soaps In Lush
Did a man die in Essex after being overpowered by the smell of scented soaps in a Lush store? No, that's not true: the news article claiming it happened originated... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: RuPaul Did NOT Claim Trump Touched Him Inappropriately In The 1990s
Did artist Rupaul claim Donald Trump grabbed him/her innapropriately in the 1990s? No, that's not true: al old story from 2016 by a satirical website that claims he did is... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Two CIA Agents NOT Arrested by Minutemen while Crossing Mexican Border with 1300 Pounds of Cocaine
Were two CIA agents arrested by Minutemen volunteers watching the Mexican border as they tried to cross it in an SUV loaded with 1300 pounds of cocaine? No, that's not... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Vice President of Programming Muthafa Ka'plêse Did NOT Cancel Roseanne At ABC
Was Roseanne's show cancelled because of Senior Vice President of Programming Muthafa Ka'plêse at ABC? No, that's not true and he also wasn't a member of "Obama's Indonesian Choom Gang",... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: NO Mosquito Species Discovered That Can Get You Pregnant With A Single Bite
Is there a new mosquito species named "mosquito chirulí" that can get people pregnant with a single bite? No, that's not true: the story originated from the English version of... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
»News & Analysis from the world of Fake News
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Newest Site From 'Ghana' Fake News Network Copies Christopher Blair's Footer
About three weeks ago Lead Stories reported on a network of fake news websites apparently centered around Ghana in Africa that was responsible for several huge death hoaxes. After our... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Paul Horner's Old Website Taken Over By Vietnamese Spammer Stealing Fact Checks From Snopes
Newsexaminer.net, a website that used to be run by Paul Horner before the fake news superstar died last year has apparently been taken over by a spammer from Vietnam who... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Global Fake News Network Responsible For Dozens of Death Hoaxes Shuts Down After Ghana Connections Revealed
Forget Macedonia, the real capital of fake news might just be Accra in Ghana On April 17, 2018 former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away but a full day earlier... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Christopher Blair AKA Busta Troll Starts Several New Trolling Websites (And A Porn Site Network)
Regular readers of Lead Stories know we've been following the exploits of Christopher Blair for quite some time now. From taking over right wing Facebook pages with hordes of goats... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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American Troll: John Prager Takes Us Inside Christopher Blair's Secret Troll Cave (Part 1/2)
Readers of Lead Stories know we've been following the work of Christopher Blair (featured in the Boston Globe today by coincidence) for quite some time now. For those of you... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Why Lead Stories Debunks Satire Stories
We sometimes get asked by readers why we bother fact checking and debunking stories that were clearly meant as satire and which are properly labeled as such by the sites... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Hoax Alert
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Fake News: Roseanne Did NOT Adopt 3 Year Old African Kid To Prove She's Not Racist
Did Roseanne Barr adopt a 3-year-old African boy named Eyob Tafawa to prove she is not racist? No, that's not true (the part about the adoption). That claim was made... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Man Did NOT Die After Being Overcome By Smell Of Scented Soaps In Lush
Did a man die in Essex after being overpowered by the smell of scented soaps in a Lush store? No, that's not true: the news article claiming it happened originated... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: RuPaul Did NOT Claim Trump Touched Him Inappropriately In The 1990s
Did artist Rupaul claim Donald Trump grabbed him/her innapropriately in the 1990s? No, that's not true: al old story from 2016 by a satirical website that claims he did is... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Two CIA Agents NOT Arrested by Minutemen while Crossing Mexican Border with 1300 Pounds of Cocaine
Were two CIA agents arrested by Minutemen volunteers watching the Mexican border as they tried to cross it in an SUV loaded with 1300 pounds of cocaine? No, that's not... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Vice President of Programming Muthafa Ka'plêse Did NOT Cancel Roseanne At ABC
Was Roseanne's show cancelled because of Senior Vice President of Programming Muthafa Ka'plêse at ABC? No, that's not true and he also wasn't a member of "Obama's Indonesian Choom Gang",... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: NO Mosquito Species Discovered That Can Get You Pregnant With A Single Bite
Is there a new mosquito species named "mosquito chirulí" that can get people pregnant with a single bite? No, that's not true: the story originated from the English version of... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Politics
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Fake News: Roseanne NOT Hired As White House Press Secretary
Was Roseanne Barr hired as White House Press Secretary to replace Sarah Huckabee Sanders? No, that's not true: the story came from a Canadian satirical website, it is not real.... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: George HW Bush NOT Dead After Overdosing On Wife Barbara's Pills
Did former President George H.W. Bush die of an Oxycontin overdose because he wanted to be with his wife Barbara who passed away several weeks ago? No, that's not true,... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Obama NOT Caught Smuggling Booze, Drugs And Underage Girls Into Enemy Territory
Was a ship named the "My Michelle" smuggling drugs, underage girls and alcoholic beverages to Iran linked to former President Barack Obama? No, that's not true: the entire story was... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Obamas Did NOT Promise To Donate All Proceeds From Multimillion-Dollar Book, Netflix Deals To Combat Wealth Inequality
Did the Obamas promise to donate all the money they will earn from their book and Netflix deals to charity in order to fight wealth inequality? No, that's not true.... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Belgian Social Democrat Party Uses Faked Trump Video In Climate Change Campaign
Did President Donald Trump mock Belgium for not getting out of the Paris Climate Agreement? A video that seemed to show just that was faked by the Belgian political party... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Donald Trump NOT Bestowed Honorific Title By Association Of People With Small Hands
Was President Donald Trump given the honorific title of "Honorary Ambassador for people suffering from Acrodysostosis"? No, that's not true: that news was made up by a website that normally... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Entertainment
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Fake News: RuPaul Did NOT Claim Trump Touched Him Inappropriately In The 1990s
Did artist Rupaul claim Donald Trump grabbed him/her innapropriately in the 1990s? No, that's not true: al old story from 2016 by a satirical website that claims he did is... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Vice President of Programming Muthafa Ka'plêse Did NOT Cancel Roseanne At ABC
Was Roseanne's show cancelled because of Senior Vice President of Programming Muthafa Ka'plêse at ABC? No, that's not true and he also wasn't a member of "Obama's Indonesian Choom Gang",... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Idris Elba NOT To Join The Walking Dead As New Black Character That Dies After 1 Season
Will Idris Elba be in the ninth season of AMC's The Walking Dead as an "expendable black character" that only appears one season? No, that's not true: that news was... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Richard Dawkins Did NOT Join Cast of Love Island
Will Richard Dawkins participate in the dating show Love Island? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a satirical website, is is not real. The story appeared... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Roseanne Did NOT Find A New Home At Fox
Was Roseanne picked up by Fox after being cancelled by ABC over an offensive tweet? No, that's not true (the Fox part). A satirical site aimed at riling up conservatives... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Roseanne NOT Picked Up By NBC
Was Roseanne picked up by NBC after being cancelled by ABC over a racist tweet sent out by the show's star, Roseanne Barr? No, that's not true. The show was... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
» Video
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show 6K People Marching For Tommy Robinson To Be Freed
Does a viral video show six thousand people marching down London's Whitehall to demand freedom for Tommy Robinson? No, that's not true: the video is from several weeks before Robinson's... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake Video: Congress Is NOT Demanding The Arrest of Hillary Clinton
Is Congress demanding the arrest of Hillary Clinton and the appointment of a second special counsel in the wake of the FBI spy operation? No: a live video stream claiming... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Video Does NOT Show Palestinian Martyr Scratching His Nose Under His Shroud
Were Palestinian 'martyrs' seen moving under their shrouds in a video that was making the rounds in May 2018? No, the video being spread by Twitter user "p4z" is not... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: Horrific "#Frazzledrip" Hillary Clinton Snuff Film NOT Circulating On Dark Web
Is there a video named "Frazzledrip" circulating on the dark web that shows Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin raping and slicing the face off a young girl and then drinking... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake News: The Moon Will NOT Turn Green For 90 Minutes On April 20, 2018
Will the Moon turn green for 90 minutes on April 20, 2018? Of course not, despite claims by a viral video posted recently by The Free Though Project no such... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk
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Fake Video: Youtube Shooter Nasim Aghdam NOT Doing Squats In Front Of Israeli Flag
Is the video of YouTube shooter Nasim Aghdam doing squats in front of an Israeli flag to the tune of "Hava Nagila" real? No, it is not: the video was... [Read the full story]- by: Maarten Schenk