Announcing PolitiFact Readers' Choice for the 2025 Lie of the Year

It’s time to announce PolitiFact’s Readers’ Choice winner for the 2025 Lie of the Year.

But first, some background. We did something different with our readers’ poll this year. Historically, we’ve asked PolitiFact readers to choose one claim that they thought was the most significant falsehood or exaggeration that worked to undermine an accurate narrative. 

This time, we wanted you to rank all the options on our ballot on a scale of one to 15, with one being the most significant falsehood and 15 being the least significant. We then looked at the average rank for each option from the 1,082 votes cast.

PolitiFact editors pick the official winner. This year, PolitiFact is spotlighting three stories that exemplify the consequences of falsehoods in 2025, which we’re calling our Year of the Lies. 

Our readers’ pick for the 2025 Lie of the Year — with an average ranking of 4.6 — is Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Pants on Fire claim that "there is no starvation in Gaza."

At the time of Netanyahu's statement in July, the hunger crisis in Gaza was well documented in images, by United Nations data, news dispatches, first-person accounts and information from humanitarian organizations. 

In August, a panel of experts backed by the U.N. confirmed famine in northern Gaza, noting in a report that "over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterised by starvation, destitution and death."

RELATED: Who decides when genocide has occurred? The long legal process hinges on proving intent 

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that went into effect Oct. 10, increasing aid delivery. But as of Nov. 7, the U.N. said Gaza remains in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

This year’s selection breaks readers’ four-year streak of choosing a claim from President Donald Trump as their Lie of the Year. In 2024, both readers and PolitiFact editors chose Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets as the Lie of the Year. 

Here’s how readers ranked our ballot. (Remember: A lower average rating reflects a higher ranking in the poll.) We included some readers’ comments, edited for clarity, about why they voted for certain falsehoods. 

1. Netanyahu: "There is no starvation in Gaza." Pants on Fire. Average rank: 4.6

What readers said: 

"I feel Netanyahu's lie about people not starving in Gaza is the worst. He wants the U.S. to support Israel but then lies about the deplorable conditions his administration has helped create.  Regardless of who is to blame for the war, this is a terrible atrocity to overlook and brush under the rug."

"Despite most every word out of Trump's mouth being either an outright lie or exaggeration, Netanyahu's claim regarding 'no starvation in Gaza' was the most significant because its negative impact directly contributed to ending lives."

"One look at photos from Gaza says it all." 

"Genocide is the most significant of all these issues. It impacts all of humanity. I’m also concerned that world leaders are asking us to believe a false narrative when we can clearly see it with our own eyes or depend on fact checkers like PolitiFact to present independent factual information."

"Netanyahu's lie is the most egregious, easy to disprove, and most impactful in the number of lives being erased by the lie."

2. Trump: The Jeffrey Epstein files "were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama. They were made up by Biden." Pants on Fire. Average rank: 4.8

Facing backlash in July from his base over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files, Trump shifted blame to his Democratic predecessors and called the files a "hoax." As pressure swelled in Congress, Trump signed a bill in November directing the Justice Department to release its files related to its investigation into Epstein, a convicted sex offender. 

What readers said: 

"Trump saying Biden and Comey made up the Epstein files is beyond preposterous and makes zero sense."

"Trump promised to release the Epstein files, and he has told lie after lie about them."

"Patently false, and it's one more way victims of child sexual assault are being dismissed and re-victimized."

"The Epstein files were not the most important of the choices, but the lie was so out there, and Trump was constantly denying what the materials said, that it overwhelmed all the other lies."

3. Trump: Regarding boat strikes off the coast of Venezuela, "Every boat that we knock out we save 25,000 American lives." Pants on Fire. Average rank: 5.6

In September, the U.S. military began attacking boats off the coast of Venezuela in what the Trump administration called an effort to thwart drug smuggling. Experts questioned the legality of the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people as of Dec. 2. 

In October, Trump said each boat strike had saved 25,000 American lives by destroying drugs before they reached the U.S. The Trump administration has provided no evidence about the type or quantity of drugs it says were on boats targeted by the military. The lack of information makes it impossible to know how many lethal drug doses could have been destroyed. Drug experts told PolitiFact that Venezuela plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the U.S.

What readers said: 

"Trump’s claims about lives saved by his attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific are not just statistical nonsense; they are a justification for acts that can only honestly be called murder and piracy — and not even murder under the color of law, since those killed were not given even the pretense of a trial." 

"There has been little transparency in bombing boats, and no precedent for doing so. Imagine the costs of deploying so much in resources to bombing boats that hold four to six people."

"When a president lies to justify killing people, we have lost the moral high ground and our reputation as a nation of laws."

"It was a difficult decision. Netanyahu's claim is so blatantly false that it borders on evil. However, the outrageous executions of what are likely fishermen off the coast of Venezuela pushed me to prioritize this issue, as it signifies a continuing erosion of our country's traditions and values. Therefore, I have to give it the top spot." 

The rest of the ballot 

4. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: "Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people." False. Average rank: 5.7

5. Trump: "Portland is burning to the ground." Pants on Fire. Average rank: 5.8

6. Vice President JD Vance: Democrats shut down the government to give health care to illegal immigrants. False. Average rank: 5.9

7. (tie with below) Trump: Regarding his campaign promise to deport "the worst of the worst," said "That's what we're doing." See our check. Average rank: 6.9 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: "Nobody was texting war plans" in the Trump administration Signal group text about bombing Yemen. False. Average rank: 6.9 (Tied with above)

9. Trump: Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia "had ‘MS-13’ on his knuckles tattooed. … He had ‘MS’ as clear as you can be. Not 'interpreted.’" Pants on Fire. Average rank: 7.2

10. Trump: "There’s no downside" to not taking Tylenol when you’re pregnant. Pants on Fire. Average rank: 7.7

11. U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah: The suspect in the Minnesota lawmakers’ shootings was driven by "Marxist" ideology. Pants on Fire. Average rank: 9.1

12. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker: The federal government "decided to shut down the SNAP machines, so that they can’t be used." False. Average rank: 12

13. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: "Republicans have effectively ended medical research in the United States of America." Mostly False. Average rank: 12.1

14. Jeffries: "The Trump administration just declared that erecting a ballroom is the president’s main priority," rather than issues such as the cost of living and health care. False. Average rank: 12.5

15. Social media posts, left-wing influencers: The "Trump is dead" Labor Day weekend conspiracy theory. Special report. Average rank: 12.8

THIS YEAR: What to make of an abysmal year for truth? PolitiFact names 2025 the Year of the Lies

LOOKING BACK: Revisit PolitiFact’s Lies of the Year, 2009 to 2025