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

November 13, 2026

21 checks · 10 morning · 11 afternoon

Morning run

10 checks

Did Iran set US warships on fire in the Arabian Sea and shoot down a rescue helicopter?

X · @Geopolitics_IRG 304 likes; @IRGC_NEWS2 (English) 15 likes; @almohamadawi31 (Arabic) 12 likes; also a Facebook reel (Misbar)

False

An Iranian pro-IRGC account claims Iran set US warships ablaze in the Arabian Sea and shot down a rescue helicopter, illustrated with a clip that shows only a helicopter descending over a shoreline. No credible source reports any US warship being hit — CENTCOM has repeatedly denied this recurring claim — and the video is unrelated recycled footage.

ConflictView details→

Did Amazon deforestation fall 71% between 2022 and 2026, as Lula said?

X · Thread post: 556 likes and 110 reposts (X syndication, 13 Nov). The claim comes from Lula's COP31 Leaders' Summit speech in Antalya on 11 Nov, which got wide Brazilian coverage.

True But

Text-only post in which President Lula says Amazon deforestation fell 71% between 2022 and 2026; INPE's PRODES data, corroborated by Reuters, AFP and major Brazilian outlets, shows a 71.2% drop from 11,594 km² in 2022 to 3,335 km² in the 2025-26 cycle, though the 2026 figure is preliminary and the 'all biomes, historic' framing is broader government rhetoric.

EnvironmentPoliticsView details→

Did Thomas Massie's Epstein files discharge petition reach 218 signatures?

X · Massie post with video of Speaker Johnson: 27,745 likes (X syndication); Raw Story coverage

True

Genuine CNN footage of Speaker Mike Johnson being pressed by correspondent Manu Raju about Rep. Thomas Massie's Epstein Files Transparency Act II, whose discharge petition did reach 218 signatures on 11 November 2026. The caption's description of the bill checks out, but Johnson's claims inside the clip — that he never fought release of the files and that the DOJ has complied — are misleading.

PoliticsCrimeView details→

Is Israel dropping snakes on Gaza?

X · @EYakoby post 9,125 likes (X syndication); Lead Stories fact check 13 Nov

False

The video is AI-generated — a repurposed South Asian 'snake rain' comedy clip — and it is falsely presented as real footage of Israel dropping snakes on Gaza, a claim multiple independent fact-checkers have debunked.

ConflictTechnologyView details→

Did Nick Shirley retract his EBT fraud claims against Lam's Seafood?

X · Shirley retraction post 27,984 likes (X syndication); Daily Beast coverage 12 Nov

True

The video is genuine footage of Nick Shirley publicly retracting his October 2026 EBT-fraud allegations against Seattle's Lam's Seafood, and that retraction is accurately reported by multiple independent outlets. Only minor details are off — the item was a case of luncheon meat rather than brand-name Spam, and a container of spring rolls rather than sushi.

PoliticsConsumerView details→

Did Hakeem Jeffries say he wants to re-import deported DACA recipients and pay them?

X · Benny Johnson post 20,572 likes (X syndication); echoed by Eric Daugherty, RedWave Press, Monty Bennett; Fox News article 12 Nov

Misleading

The video is genuine PBS NewsHour footage of Hakeem Jeffries saying on 10 November 2026 that he would 'certainly' support bringing deported DACA recipients back and giving them 'remedial assistance' - but he never said they would be paid, which is the caption's central assertion.

PoliticsView details→

Did Texas Democrats file 20 gun bills after the midterms?

YouTube · Spread on YouTube, IG, FB and X ('FLOOD of proposed bills'); Snopes fact check 12 Nov after reader searches

True

The claim is accurate: after flipping the Texas House in the November 2026 midterms, Democrats prefiled roughly 20 gun-regulation bills on the first day of prefiling for the 2027 session, and both Snopes and major outlets confirmed the filings. Whether the bills become law remains an open question, since Republicans still control the state Senate.

PoliticsCrimeView details→

Did British Airways flight BA431 suffer a double tail strike landing at Heathrow?

X · 15,725 likes and 1,139 replies on X (syndication, 13 Nov 02:40Z). Picked up by Express and The Sun, which reports the AAIB was called in, and by Nacionale.

True But

The video is genuine Big Jet TV live-stream footage of British Airways flight BA431 (Airbus A321neo G-TNEB) hitting its tail on runway 27L at Heathrow on 12 November 2026 and going around before a safe second landing, as reported by The Aviation Herald, the Aviation Safety Network and RNZ. The caption's 'double tail strike' wording matches how several outlets described it, though the exact number of tail contacts is still for the AAIB to confirm.

OtherConsumerView details→

Was Colonel Dmitry Lobodin killed by a car bomb on Kolpino Highway in St Petersburg?

X · CrimeanVoyager 475 likes; Gerashchenko_en 880 likes; bayraktar_1love 2,564 likes (X syndication). Covered by Newsweek, Meduza, Moscow Times, UNITED24, Militarnyi and Euronews on 12 Nov.

True But

The underlying event is real and well documented: a colonel of Russia's 6th Air and Air Defence Army was killed by a remotely detonated car bomb on Kolpinskoye Highway in St Petersburg on 12 November 2026, and reporting points to Colonel Dmitry Lobodin as the victim, though authorities have not officially named him. The attached night-street clip appears to be genuine footage, but its sampled frames show ordinary traffic rather than the explosion itself.

ConflictCrimeView details→

Did Russian air defences shoot down three of their own aircraft near St Petersburg?

X · Osint613 post 1,141 likes (X syndication). Covered 12 Nov by Kyiv Post ('Did Russia Shoot Down Its Own Helicopters...'), Euromaidan Press, The Insider, Moscow Times/Defence Blog; UATV Español video 27.5K views in 4h (YouTube search).

True But

The report is broadly accurate: three Russian aircraft and seven crew were reported lost overnight on 10-11 November 2026 while defending against the Ukrainian drone attack on the Ust-Luga port, with friendly fire a strong but officially unconfirmed suspicion. The specific airframe list, however, is disputed — later compilations of the same milblogger claims give a MiG-31, a Ka-52 and an Mi-8 rather than two Ka-52s.

ConflictView details→

Afternoon run

11 checks

Did Iran's IRGC destroy a U.S. early-warning radar in Bahrain?

X · IRGC statement carried by Tasnim/Fars and reported by Reuters, Al Jazeera, Iran International, RFE/RL, Euronews and Arab News on 13 Nov. CENTCOM's CLAIM/FACT rebuttal on X had 3,360 likes (verify.py). Soar Atlas says an 'AI-manipulated' satellite image of the strike is circulating (109 likes).

Can't Verify

The post accurately reports a real IRGC statement: on 13 November 2026 the IRGC did claim its Aerospace Force destroyed a U.S. early-warning radar in Bahrain. The claim itself, however, was denied the same day by U.S. Central Command, which said two Iranian drones were intercepted with no damage — context the post leaves out.

ConflictPoliticsView details→

Did Trump threaten to double tariffs on Mexico over migrant caravans after the border states turned blue?

X · Fox News X post ('new caravan of nearly 2,000... following Democrats' midterm landslide') 14,229 likes; SimonLevyMx 529 likes (verify.py 13 Nov). Covered by Townhall, Fox, UPI, Arab News, Epoch Times and Radio-Canada. Sheinbaum says two caravans are crossing southern Mexico.

True But

The clip is Simón Levy's stylised promotional explainer, and its checkable content holds up: Democrats did win all four US–Mexico border-state governorships on 3 November 2026, Trump did threaten to double tariffs on Mexico over migrant caravans on 12 November, and a Trump-linked think tank has urged applying foreign-agent rules to Morena. The caption's suggestion that Mexico deliberately let the caravans through and feels 'emboldened' by the Democratic win is Trump's contested framing rather than established fact.

PoliticsView details→

Did the Houthis strike Aramco in Riyadh with a drone?

X · Saree's post had 4,712 likes (verify.py, 13 Nov). Covered by BBC Arabic, Arabi21, France24 Arabic, Al Jazeera ('group claims Aramco attacks') and others on 12-13 Nov. The coalition says a drone was intercepted; Saudi Arabia earlier reported a limited pipeline fire. Google Trends SA showed 'خط أنابيب

Misleading

The Houthi military spokesman did post this claim, but the substance — a successful Houthi drone strike on Aramco in Riyadh on 12 November 2026 — is unverified and contradicted by the Saudi-led coalition, which said the drone heading for the Riyadh region was intercepted and destroyed.

ConflictView details→

Did Trump sell up to $1 million of Nvidia stock before the slump?

X · QuiverQuant 2,444 likes (verify.py 13 Nov). Bluesky trending topic 'Trump's Nvidia stock trades' (13 Nov). ZeroHedge, TradingView and BigGo 12-13 Nov. Per Reuters, the same filing shows buys of up to $1.6M, a net addition.

True But

The Nvidia sale is real: Trump's August 2026 financial disclosure reported a $500,001–$1,000,000 Nvidia sale dated 21 August 2026, and Nvidia shares did fall sharply by mid-November. The 29% figure is only roughly right depending on the baseline date, and the post's 'well-timed exit' framing omits that the same disclosure shows up to $1.6 million of Nvidia buying in August, including after the sale.

PoliticsEconomyView details→

Does pollution over India shield people from sunburn while Europe's clean air lets burning sunlight through?

YouTube · Old clip resurfaced during Delhi's post-Diwali smog. ARY (12 Nov) says it flooded X with mockery, and NewsGram (13 Nov) says it is going viral. Google suggests 'rubika liyaquat pollution' as #1 · resurfaced

Misleading

This is a title-only YouTube listing of a News Ki Pathshala segment in which Rubika Liyaquat contrasts Indian and European heat and sunlight; the substance of the segment, as widely reported, wrongly frames India's smog as a protective shield against sun and heat while treating clean European air as the danger. There is no attached media to assess, so only the claims inside the programme are judged, and they are misleading.

HealthScienceView details→

Did Stephen A. Smith interview President Trump one-on-one at the White House?

YouTube · Stephen A. Smith's 48-minute 'Straight Shooter' interview posted on YouTube on Thursday. Covered by Daily Beast (3 articles), Mediaite, Raw Story, Fox News and Newsweek 12-13 Nov; Smith discussed it on CNN's Laura Coates Live.

True

The YouTube page is a genuine posting of Stephen A. Smith's one-on-one interview with President Donald Trump, taped at the White House on 12 November 2026 and released on Smith's channel that evening; the title is accurate. Inside the interview Trump repeated self-serving and misleading claims about the midterms, which is a content problem separate from the post's accurate title.

PoliticsView details→

Did Feijóo discuss his photo with a drug trafficker on The Wild Project?

YouTube · Full The Wild Project interview #392 released 13 Nov, 16 days before the 29N general election; the IMV line is headlined by OkDiario, El Debate, El Independiente, HerQles and Bilbaohiria (13 Nov). Feijóo made a similar claim on El Hormiguero in June that LaSexta called imprecise. View count not retr

True

The post is the title of The Wild Project episode 392, a genuine 13 November 2026 interview with PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and each topic it lists was in fact discussed — including the authentic 1995 yacht photographs of Feijóo with convicted drug trafficker Marcial Dorado.

PoliticsEconomyView details→

Did ex-Army officer Pravin Sawhney call the Kulgam attack a 'false flag' in a Wire interview?

X · RedDeFactoIND post 598 likes; KaurUdhoke3 repost 12 Nov; companion Praful Bakshi 'false flag' deepfake post @HinduReformer 616 likes (11 Nov). Sushant Singh's 13 Nov rebuttal (118 likes) says the clip is an AI fake that gets his identity wrong. Debunked 12-13 Nov by Factly (x2), Newschecker, Quint,

False

The clip is a deepfake: its video is a genuine March 2025 The Wire interview of journalist Sushant Singh, with AI-generated audio inserted, and it never features Pravin Sawhney or any 'false flag' remark. The caption's quoted statement is fabricated and was debunked by Factly, BOOM and The Quint on 12 November 2026.

ConflictPoliticsView details→

Did Angela Rayner just approve plans to house 1,200 migrants near Piddington?

X · Yusuf 5,243 likes; Tice '1,200 illegals, all men' 508; Farage 'fighting-age male illegal migrants' 8,097 (verify/syndication 13 Nov). Live Yusuf-Philp row in Piddington on 13 Nov (GB News, Sky, Mirror, Spectator); 'chris philp' in GB Trends.

True But

Angela Rayner did grant planning permission on 11 November 2026 for asylum accommodation for up to 1,256 men at the former MoD Bicester site next to Piddington, so the core of the post is accurate — but the people housed are asylum seekers rather than people established as 'illegal migrants', and the scheme is not imminent or final, making the 8-to-1 'soon' framing a projection rather than a fact.

PoliticsView details→

Are UK food prices up 40% since 2019?

X · 3,973 likes (verify.py 13 Nov). Part of Reform's food-price push: Tice's 13 Nov post claims a £140/yr saving (161 likes); Reform says the packaging tax costs £50 a year.

True But

Nigel Farage's headline figure is essentially right — UK food prices are roughly 40% higher than in 2019-2020 — but his claim that much of this is 'directly due' to Tory and Labour energy policies overstates a political interpretation the Bank of England does not support.

EconomyPoliticsView details→

Did The Wild Project publish episode 393 with a Pedro Sánchez interview?

YouTube · Full The Wild Project #393 interview with the PM, released 13 Nov during the election campaign. Infobae, OkDiario and El Confidencial (13 Nov) cover the on-air fact-check: show verifiers cite 2021-24 arrivals of Colombia 575,620, Morocco 469,783, Venezuela 311,488. The clip is shared on X (PadronsoM

True

The post is an accurate listing of a real podcast episode: The Wild Project, hosted by Jordi Wild, did publish a long interview with Pedro Sánchez on 13 November 2026 covering Ábalos and Koldo, Ceuta and Morocco, and his political record. Multiple independent Spanish outlets reported the interview and its segments.

PoliticsView details→