Media watch
What other fact-checkers, newsrooms and researchers are publishing about misinformation on Saudi Arabia and the region.
Crowded Saudi supermarket video shows a store opening, not war panic buying
Dismislab ↗ · Independent research group, Bangladesh
A 25-second clip sold on Facebook as war panic in Saudi Arabia was traced by keyframe search to a September 2025 TikTok of a supermarket opening in Mecca.
Why it matters A textbook recycled-video case: real place, real crowd, wrong story.
Old video shared as crowds at a Saudi supermarket amid war fears Translated
Original title: যুদ্ধের আশঙ্কায় সৌদি আরবের সুপারমার্কেটে ভিড়ের দাবিতে পুরোনো ভিডিও প্রচার
Rumor Scanner ↗ · Fact-checking organization, Bangladesh
The same supermarket claim checked in Bengali: the footage had been online since at least January 2026, described then as a discount rush.
Why it matters Two independent teams reached the same verdict in two languages.
“Egyptian fighter jets arrive in Saudi Arabia”: what is the truth about the viral video? Translated
Original title: «وصول طائرات مصرية مقاتلة إلى السعودية».. ما حقيقة الفيديو المتداول؟
CNN Arabic ↗ · Commercial broadcaster (CNN)
A clip of aircraft over Riyadh, shared as Egyptian fighters arriving, had versions posted months earlier, including in August 2026.
Why it matters Breaking-news moments pull old footage back into circulation.
Fact Check: Barbaric beheading video UNRELATED to execution of Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia
India Today Fact Check ↗ · Commercial media group, India
A video linked to the October 2026 Mecca case was traced to a 2015 report: it shows a different case from more than a decade ago.
Why it matters Graphic old videos are reused to fill gaps when official details are brief.
The misinformation spreading around the death sentences of two Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia Translated
Original title: সৌদিতে দুই বাংলাদেশির মৃত্যুদণ্ড ঘিরে ছড়াচ্ছে যত অপতথ্য
Rumor Scanner ↗ · Fact-checking organization, Bangladesh
A running roundup of false items around the Mecca case: AI-generated photos of the two people, and coffin and funeral videos from unrelated deaths.
Why it matters Shows how one case spawns many separate fakes — the pattern our myth tracker follows.
Fact check: Viral visuals do not show Bangladeshi man, woman executed in Saudi Arabia
The Express Tribune ↗ · Commercial newspaper, Pakistan
Several visuals shared since 16 October as showing the Mecca case are older or unrelated, including a crowd clip filmed at the Black Stone.
Why it matters A third country, a third language, the same recycled visuals.
First Half 2026 Adversarial Threat Report
Meta — Adversarial Threat Report, H1 2026 ↗ · Platform transparency report
Meta describes removing a network of fictitious personas; an earlier part of that operation targeted Arabic-speaking audiences in Iraq.
Why it matters Platforms judge networks by behaviour, not content — the same lens we use for campaigns.
CIB detection tree
EU DisinfoLab ↗ · Independent non-profit, Brussels
A step-by-step guide to assessing coordinated inauthentic behaviour: coordination, source, authenticity and impact.
Why it matters The reference framework behind our careful wording on campaigns.