Fact check: No Saudi Arabia did not deploy US air defense system to protect Israel

Israel has intensified its brutal assault on Gaza strip as the Palestinian death toll from nearly four weeks of Israeli air and artillery strikes on the blockaded enclave rose past 9,000 on Thursday, according to Gaza health authorities.

As international calls for a humanitarian pause in hostilities go unheeded, Palestinians are suffering shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine, a wave of misinformation and fake videos are being spread across news networks and social media platforms.

An account called @Megatron_ron on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted on November 1 “BREAKING: ‼️🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia has given the green light for the deployment of US air defense systems in the country to protect Israel from external attacks, – Saudi Arabia’s defense minister

“The sides discussed the situation in the Middle East, and additional air defense systems will be deployed in the kingdom, as missiles launched from Yemen towards Israel fly over the territory of Saudi Arabia,” the post said.

BREAKING:

‼️🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia has given the green light for the deployment of US air defense systems in the country to protect Israel from external attacks, – Saudi Arabia’s defense minister

The sides discussed the situation in the Middle East, and additional air defense systems… pic.twitter.com/DXTdTZB3jO

— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) November 1, 2023

However, the post didn’t provide any sources, and based on available information, the report is false.

Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip,November 2, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa Acquire Licensing Rights

It should be noted that the fog of war and polarization make it difficult to verify information and find credible or reliable sources, social media platforms become vital information spaces. But those platforms also become part of the information warfare where disinformation and fake content are rampant, hate speech and incitement spread, and extreme and graphic content gets amplified by the algorithms of social media platforms and garner the most engagement and attention.

Social media companies must take more action to halt content that incites more acts of violence.