Politics

Did FIFA President Gianni Infantino attack U.S. President Donald Trump over his role in the football Club World Cup Final trophy presentation, saying he "stole the glory that belongs to us"? No, that's not true: A widely-shared video contained fake audio of Infantino's voice. We found no corroboration for the claim that Infantino had lashed out at Trump. The claim…

Did Chelsea FC photoshop President Trump out of their official trophy raising photo after the FIFA Club World Cup final? No, that's not true: A viral image that was digitally edited to remove Trump from the scene did not appear on the soccer club's official social media accounts. The image they actually posted does show Trump in the background. The…

Does a viral video show Piera Mosque in Barcelona, Spain on fire? No, that's not true: The viral footage with a caption about Spaniards burning "Piera Mosque" in that city actually shows a fire in Indonesia. That fire happened in Jakarta in 2022 during a renovation mishap. A fire did take place in a mosque in Piera on July 14,…

Did a Mexican search and rescue team sent to the scene of the July 2025 flooding in Kerr County, Texas rescue a sheriff's daughter, as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: Although Mexican rescue crews were in fact sent to help when Independence Day rain caused flash flooding along the Guadalupe River, there is no publicly available documentation…

Did ICE arrest Mexican nationals who helped flood recovery efforts, and did Texas Gov. Greg Abbott say "I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods"? No, that's not true: A viral TikTok video contained a fabricated story about ICE "aiming weapons" at the rescuers and "loading them into vans". A clip of Abbott contained fake audio and…

Does a viral photo authentically show Beyonce wearing a tank top with a Star of David while having an Israeli flag draped over her arms? No, that's not true: The image has been digitally manipulated based on an older original. The original picture shows no such tank top and shows red, white and blue tassels hanging from the singer's arms.…

Is a viral video a real news report about a "Sheriff Larry Leda" saying he'd apply for a green card for the Mexican rescue team that saved his family? No, that's not true: The footage in the viral video came from a press conference during which the phrase "green card" was not said and the caption in the video spelled…

Did President Donald Trump post on his Truth Social account that he was "giving serious consideration to taking away" Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship? Yes, that's true: The message appeared on Trump's Truth Social account at approximately 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, July 12, 2025. The post was still visible at the time of writing, about two hours later. The president…

Did FBI Director Kash Patel declassify records detailing Hillary Clinton's and Vladimir Putin's ties to the 'James Comey Scandal'? No, that's not true: The viral rumor originated from a comedian's page. Neither the FBI nor credible media organizations said anything about the purported "trove" of "intelligence documents". The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on July…

Did a widely-shared video authentically show Liberian President Joseph Boakai attacking the "racially prejudiced attitude" of his American counterpart Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The video included fake audio, likely the product of AI. The underlying footage of Boakai was in fact recorded in 2017. The video appeared in a July 10, 2025, post on TikTok (archived here) with…

Did Barack Obama spend 310 days, working from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the White House running the country in 2024? No, that's not true: The meme spreading that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer and a warning that all the contents of the page are made up. The owner of the page is known…

Did President Donald Trump post a 435-word tirade about the public's interest in the canceled investigation into the clients of the dead child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein? No, that's not true: There have been no genuine Trump posts about Epstein on Truth Social since January 2024. The mock-up using Trump's Truth Social profile image was posted by a self-described humor…

Did U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren suggest that Mollie Tibbetts' family has "to remember we need to focus on real problems like illegal immigrants not being able to see their kids"? No, that's not true: The viral meme distorted Warren's 2018 comments on the case in which an undocumented worker was charged and later convicted of the 20-year-old woman's murder. During…

Did Democratic nominee and then-sitting Vice President Kamala Harris get 68 million votes in 2024? No, that's not true: In reality, she got more than 75 million, according to data on the Federal Election Commission website. That's fewer than Joe Biden's 2020 total of 81 million, but 7 million more than is claimed by a viral meme. The claim appeared…

Did President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post, ask the public to "focus on Mexicans and flooding" rather than whether he is "all over the Epstein files"? No, that's not true: A widely-shared screenshot which appeared to show such a message was, in fact, fake. A search of the president's TruthSocial account yielded no record of his having written…

Did a widely-shared X post about forgiving President Donald Trump "even if he rapes women and children" come from a real person named "Brad T. Faciti"? No, that's not true: The X account (@BadFaithAct) appears to be a trolling campaign that posts political satire. The profile picture appears to be AI-generated, and the profile contains a link to an AI…

Did Sky News publish a headline that read "Ice agents quitting in droves due to low morale, doxxing fears"? No, that's not true: The headline did not appear on the website of Sky News at the time of writing. It appears to have originated as a meme from the "South Dakota Department of Propaganda", a website with a satire disclaimer.…

Did Hillary Clinton tweet "WHAT THE FUCK???" in response to a Democratic Party tweet calling for the release of the Epstein files? No, that's not true: The Democrat.org tweet is real, but there is no evidence that the former secretary of state posted a reply. A search of Clinton's X account failed to find any usage of the F-word in…

Does a viral video show Israeli soldiers celebrating the 2024 release of comrades who had been detained in connection with charges that nine soldiers had raped a Palestinian at a desert prison camp? No, that's not true: The video was first posted to X on November 10, 2023 and depicts a rowdy party unrelated to the Sde Teiman camp rape…

Did a Texas city require residents to sign an "Israel loyalty pledge" in order to be eligible to get relief funds after deadly floods in 2025? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that any Texas town or county impacted by the deadly flooding of July 2025 established any such loyalty pledge. The meme making the claim did not…