The daily check-in

Trending, checked.

Twice a day we pull the posts going viral on TikTok, Instagram, X and Facebook and run them through the record. Each entry is a published verdict — what we found, why, and the sources behind it.

Checks from

October 7, 2026

17 checks · 7 morning · 10 afternoon

Morning run

7 checks

Did Trump say to let Iran take out American cities?

X · Shriver post 39,545 likes; Newsom 48,467, Sanders 54,337, CA Gov press office 42,164 likes; White House (Cheung) rebuttal; FactCheck.org and HuffPost coverage

Misleading

Authentic rally footage shows President Trump saying the quoted lines. The caption's claim that he was 'telling Iran to bomb American cities' is an interpretive, stronger reading of the clip and is therefore misleading; fact-checkers and the White House argue the intended meaning was different (arguing higher costs are worth preventing Iran's capability).

PoliticsConflictView details→

Is there a plague outbreak in Siberia following a laboratory accident?

X · Story still growing: Google Trends NL 'de pest rusland' 1000+, top IE trend; Trump commented 5 Oct, Rubio pressed Russia 6 Oct; Euronews, Newsweek, Daily Beast, Fox, CBC follow-ups 6 Oct

Misleading

Misleading — multiple reputable outlets report a death of a laboratory worker in Irkutsk and quarantines of contacts, but there is no confirmed plague outbreak or verified lab accident; official Russian statements and investigative reporting contradict the claim that a plague outbreak resulted from a high-security lab accident.

HealthScienceView details→

Did Rima Hassan remove an Israeli flag in the European Parliament?

X · EP President Metsola commented and EP services analysing; condemned by Bellamy (LR); Hassan disputes trampling; Libération CheckNews piece

True But

The video is authentic footage of a parliamentary intervention; its central factual claim — that MEP Rima Hassan removed an Israeli flag displayed at an exhibition commemorating the 7 October attacks — is confirmed by multiple reputable news outlets and by Hassan’s office. The post also contains political accusations (about LFI and the RN) that are interpretive/opinion-based.

PoliticsConflictView details→

What did Donald Trump say about the Cornell rape allegations?

X · Primary 2,604 likes / 509 replies; Cornell case still live with Fox, NY Post and Newsweek follow-ups 6 Oct

True But

The video is authentic pool footage of President Trump saying he 'feels badly for whoever she's looking at' after New York named Letitia James a special prosecutor in the Cornell case. Reporting shows a civil lawsuit alleges seven members of a Cornell fraternity assaulted a student in October 2024, but those are allegations from a lawsuit (not criminal convictions) and mainstream outlets describe the assault as occurring 'over several hours' rather than uniformly as '7 hours.'

PoliticsCrimeView details→

Did the Centre for Policy Studies hold a session at CPC26?

YouTube · Guardian, Independent (3 pieces), Mirror, GB News, Daily Mail, Luton Today coverage; Badenoch backed him; Bedfordshire Police denial reported

True

TRUE — The Centre for Policy Studies did hold a session titled 'From Boriswave to Brain Drain: How Can We Fix Migration?' at the Conservative Party Conference (CPC26) in Birmingham in early October 2026; multiple reputable news outlets and the CPS conference programme corroborate the event and reporting from it.

PoliticsCrimeView details→

Did celebrities sign an open letter supporting Garvaghy Road residents?

X · 981 likes, 91 replies; TheJournal.ie coverage

True

Verified. Sinn Féin's social-media graphic accurately reports that numerous public figures (including Noel Gallagher, Susan Sarandon, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, Siobhán McSweeney and Adrian Dunbar) signed an open letter on 6 October 2026 supporting Garvaghy Road residents and calling for an independent mediator; multiple reputable news outlets reported the same signatory list.

PoliticsCelebrityView details→

Did José Mourinho say Vinícius Jr. is being investigated for impersonation?

X · Spreading in English, Turkish and Italian versions (CIA, Rothschild, alien variants); Facta debunk 6 Oct

False

The clip is presented as José Mourinho saying Vinícius Jr. is being investigated for impersonation, but we found no credible reporting or official source to support that claim. The statement appears to be fabricated or misattributed; the broader 'Vinícius replaced by a double' story is a baseless conspiracy circulating on social platforms and has been covered by news outlets as unsubstantiated.

SportsCelebrityView details→

Afternoon run

10 checks

Are Jos. A. Bank suits all made overseas?

X · 35,746 likes (X syndication); picked up by Daily Beast, HuffPost, Forbes, Newsweek, AOL

Misleading

The photo is authentic and shows Donald Trump revealing a Jos. A. Bank label on a suit at a rally. The poster's assertion that 'Jos. A. Bank suits are all made overseas' is misleading: many Jos. A. Bank items are imported, but Tailored Brands operates a New Bedford, MA factory that produces Joseph Abboud 'Made in USA' suits, and not every Joseph Abboud or Jos. A. Bank item is U.S.-made.

PoliticsConsumerView details→

Did the left stop winning presidential elections in Latin America after USAID cuts?

X · 91,945 likes (X syndication); screenshot reposted by Trump on Truth Social Oct 7 (image alt text cites 1.3M views); Benny Johnson variant 127,202 likes · resurfaced

False

False. The central claim that 'since we gutted USAID, the left hasn’t won a single presidential election in Latin America' is contradicted by multiple widely reported left/centre-left presidential victories across the region; parts of the tweet about proposed USAID budget cuts and that U.S. funds support democracy programs are rooted in real budget and program activity but the tweet overstates and generalizes those points.

PoliticsView details→

Did Senator Katie Britt say 'America deserved 9/11'?

X · 13,625 likes (X syndication); Lead Stories fact-check Oct 6

Misleading

The video is authentic and does capture Katie Britt repeating the words 'America deserved 9/11,' but she is quoting Hasan Piker to criticize Democrats; the post's caption that she "stated that she thinks 'America deserved 9/11'" is misleading because it omits that attribution and context. Independent fact-checkers have flagged the clip for lacking context.

PoliticsView details→

What did Ben Shapiro say about protests disrupting his film production?

X · 18,387 likes on Shapiro post; follow-up 9,654 likes (X syndication); HuffPost and Mediaite coverage

True But

Most factual elements of Ben Shapiro's tweet are supported by contemporaneous local reporting: producers alleged threats and disruptions, hired security, the Livingston City Commission temporarily suspended the film permit and then reinstated it after a public hearing in early October 2026. The tweet's causal claim that commissioners 'backed down because we threatened to sue' is plausible (a demand letter and First Amendment arguments were part of the record) but not definitively established as the sole reason for reinstatement.

PoliticsOtherView details→

Does this video show a protest in Pakistan for Imran Khan?

X · Turkish post 1,740 likes; Arabic version by @ALI_AL_QUSHAIBI 4,211 likes ('millions of citizens'); another Arabic post 1,756 likes; English/Arabic/Turkish versions (X syndication). Misbar rates misleading: footage is from an All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (India) event

Misleading

The video itself appears to be authentic footage of a large crowd, but fact-checks trace the clip to an Indian religious/political gathering (All India Muslim Personal Law Board / jalsa) rather than a Pakistan protest calling for Imran Khan's freedom; the caption is therefore misleading.

PoliticsConflictView details→

What happened on October 7 and the claims about Israel?

X · 8,288 likes (X syndication); covered by The Independent and JFeed on 7 Oct

Misleading

The clip is an AI-generated Lego-style animation posted by the Prime Minister's official account to mark the October 7 anniversary and to rebut 'genocide' accusations. Its description of the October 7 attacks and Hamas vows is supported by reporting; its legal conclusion (that Israel is not committing genocide) is contested by independent inquiries and international legal processes, and some numeric details (e.g., the polio campaign total) differ from contemporaneous reporting.

ConflictPoliticsView details→

Are the Sam's Club receipts showing prices from 1983 and 2026 real?

X · 9,577 likes (X syndication)

False

The image circulating on X that compares a 1983 Sam's Club receipt with a 2026 Sam's Club receipt is fabricated. Fact-checking found incorrect addresses, a historical logo mismatch, arithmetic errors on the receipts, and an AI-detection result — together these indicate the image was generated or manipulated and does not provide authentic evidence of past or present prices.

EconomyConsumerView details→

Are many police officers in France stepping down and supporting protesters?

X · 6,473 likes on X (verify.py syndication); debunked by Maldita, Newtral and Facta

False

The video appears to be authentic footage from Paris protests, but the caption's claim that 'many police officers in France are stepping down and standing with the protestors' is false. Major news outlets report police clashing with protesters and making arrests, not large-scale defections to the demonstrators.

PoliticsView details→

Are there secret night flights arriving at Manchester Airport?

X · Davies post 7,411 likes; Oakeshott post 12,255 likes (X syndication); MEN says the post was 'widely shared'; MEN fact-check 6 Oct, Yahoo/PA 5 Oct

False

A published 'whistleblower' interview claims secret night flights carry 200–300 people into Manchester Airport; local investigation and aviation experts say the claims are false or implausible and the photo used as evidence is misattributed, so the post's central allegation is not supported.

PoliticsOtherView details→

Did Santiago Abascal urge Spaniards not to vote by mail?

X · 32,482 likes on vox_es post; 22,376 likes on English @Inevitablewest version (verify.py syndication); Maldita says narrative spread in four languages

True But

The video is authentic Antena 3 broadcast footage of Santiago Abascal on Espejo Público (5 Oct 2026). He did urge Spaniards to vote in person and said he did not trust Pedro Sánchez; however his claim that Sánchez 'has all his entourage in jail' is a partisan rhetorical accusation for which there is no factual evidence.

PoliticsView details→