Claim: A video shows Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman lambasting US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk for “ignoring” the Palestinian people and abusing the Kingdom’s investments for their “own personal gain”.
Fact: The video is manipulated, likely using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
On 24 May 2025, Facebook user ‘Sain Baba’ posted (archive) a video showing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, commonly known as MbS, sharply criticising US President Trump and Musk.
In the viral clip, MbS — who is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom — says:
“I solemnly condemn the predatory actions of both Trump and Musk. You have treated Saudi Arabia’s trust as nothing more than a bargaining chip for your own personal gain. Trump, our $600-billion investment in the US was meant to foster mutual benefit through cooperation and to promote peace and prosperity in the region.
“But after your visit to Qatar, you proposed the absurd idea that the US should take over Gaza completely, ignoring the sovereignty and dignity of the Palestinian people. This reckless statement seriously undermines the peace process in the region. You’ve used Saudi Arabia’s investment to bolster your own political capital, betraying the trust we placed in you.
“Musk, you once referred to Arabic as the language of the enemy and now, just to secure investment in business deals, you’ve done a complete about face, signing multiple agreements with us. This opportunistic unprincipled behaviour reveals your hypocrisy. In every collaboration, your only goal is to maximise your own benefit. The agreements are nothing more than tools for you to extract value from Saudi Arabia, completely disregarding the original purpose of our investment and cooperation.
“Trump and Musk, I urge you both to reflect and repent immediately. If not, you will inevitably pay a heavy price for your short-sightedness and greed.”
The video emerged shortly after Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May 2025.
It is accompanied by the caption “سعودی ولی عہد کا ٹرمپ کو منہ توڑ جواب۔ [Saudi Crown Prince’s blunt response to Trump.],” which also includes the hashtags “#ReleaseImranKhanNOW,” “#ImranKhan,” “#PTI,” and “#PakArmy.”
A big portion of the clip includes footage of Trump, Musk, and Saudi officials, with fewer visuals of MbS speaking during the interview, perhaps to avoid the detection of manipulated content. Similarly, big blocks of Urdu text occupy a large portion of the video’s frame, including the same text on the top as in the caption, as well as a translation of the alleged remarks by the Crown Prince.
Trump’s Saudi visit
The US President arrived in Saudi Arabia on 13 May 2025 — which marked the “first major diplomatic international visit” of his second presidential term — and was greeted by MbS, who threw him “a royal welcome”.
The two leaders exchanged warm words, with the Republican leader saying, “I really believe we like each other a lot,” and the Crown Prince addressing him as “my dear President Trump”.
Trump’s objectives for the visit, according to an Al Jazeera report, were “securing major economic deals and making diplomatic progress on issues that impact the region”. This turned out to be a success as he participated in a US-Saudi Investment Forum and the two countries signed a weapons deal worth nearly $142 billion.
According to a White House fact sheet, the arms deal was “the largest defense cooperation agreement” undertaken by the US and focuses on “areas including air and missile defense, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications”, Reuters reported.
The Trump administration also mentioned that Saudi Arabia “will invest $600 billion in the United States”, Al Jazeera reported.
Trump’s Gaza plans
The US President has floated the idea of taking over Gaza at least twice this year.
Days after he first made the suggestion, he posted an AI-generated video on Instagram, showing a hyperdeveloped Gaza, comprising a signature Trump Tower and a gold statue of Trump. It also depicts Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sunbathing with drinks in their hands, Musk enjoying a shower of dollars, and bellydancers in swimsuits.
The video’s creator, Solo Avital, an Israeli-born US citizen, later said it was “political satire”.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and found that the snippets featuring MbS are from his interview with Fox News host Bret Baier. Multiple media outlets — including Al Arabiya, CNN Arabic, and MBC1 — had reported about it on 21 September 2023.
In its 20 September 2023 report, the New York Post said the Crown Prince had stressed on “the importance of concessions given to Palestinians as part of any deals framework” pertaining to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important,” the publication quoted him as saying at the time. “We need to solve that part and we have good negotiations [that] continue till now. We got to see where we [will] go. We hope that [we] will reach a place that will ease the life of the Palestinians and get Israel as a player in the Middle East.”
In its own article from 20 September 2023 about the interview, Fox News noted that MbS termed the potential Israel-Saudi agreement as “the biggest historical deal since the end of the Cold War”. It also quoted him as saying, “If we have a breakthrough of reaching a deal that give[s] the Palestinians their needs and make the region calm, we’re going to work with whoever is there.”
Deepfake detection tools
Soch Fact Check ran three versions of the same clip in DeepFake-O-Meter, a tool developed by the University at Buffalo’s Media Forensics Lab (UB MDFL). These included the original, a three-second one where MbS can be heard saying “You’ve used Saudi Arabia’s investment to bolster your own political capital,” and a third comprising audio sans video.
Of the available detectors, we used four for the video content, namely DSP-FWA, WAV2LIP-STA, LIPINC, and FTCN. We also employed another four — AASIST, LFCC-LCNN, RawNet3, and Whisper — for the audio version.
The probability of the video being fake according to the aforementioned detectors is provided in the table below:
The probability of the audio being fake according to the aforementioned detectors is provided in the table below:
It is important to note that since a large chunk of the video obscures the face of MbS by using file footage, the DeepFake-O-Meter provided the most accurate results when we tested the audio file only.
It is also noteworthy that with an improvement in the latest AI video generation and editing models, the results of deepfake detection tools may start to vary significantly.
Sound engineer’s analysis
Soch Fact Check also sought a comment from Shaur Azher, a lecturer who teaches sound design and sound recording at the University of Karachi and the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST). He also works as an audio engineer at our sister company, Soch Videos, and specialises in mixing and mastering audio.
Azher noted that the audio exhibited synthetic frequencies, potentially deliberate noise layering, a very identifiable splice cut, and abundant compression for upscaling.
The technical observations he provided to support his argument are as follows:
- Synthetic frequencies detected: Non-natural harmonic tones were observed, which is inconsistent with live or ambient recordings. Frequency spectrum analysis revealed artificial peaks suggesting synthetic or processed sources.
- Splice cut identified: A definitive splice or hard edit was identified at timestamp 00:00:02:119. The waveform displays an abrupt amplitude discontinuity. Spectral view shows a transient gap and a mismatch in ambient noise floor before and after the cut.
- Audio upscaling via compression and EQ: Dynamic range analysis indicates excessive compression inconsistent with raw recordings. EQ curves show unnatural enhancement in upper mid and low-frequency bands, indicative of post-processing for perceived clarity or loudness. Likely used to mask underlying inconsistencies or reconstruct degraded segments.
- Noise profile presence: Background noise present throughout the recording exhibits a consistent noise floor with a distinguishable static profile. FFT analysis confirms a constant low-frequency hum and midband hiss, typical of multi-generational recordings or deliberate noise layering.
Arab fact-checker’s observations
Soch Fact Check connected with an independent fact-checker based in Jordan, Hazem Al Taqatqa, through the Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN), an initiative by the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism’s (ARIJ).
Al Taqatqa confirmed our observations, saying, “The video is surely fake. I checked it with the AI detection tool ‘Deepware’ and the result was that it’s a deepfake.”
He also reiterated that the original clip is from an interview on Fox News and provided us a link to the over 33-minute-long video published on 20 September 2023.
The Kingdom’s state media outlet, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), also “did not publish this interview with this script” on its English– or Arabic-language websites, the fact-checker informed us.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that there is ample evidence of the video in question being manipulated, likely using AI tools.
Virality
The video by Facebook user ‘Sain Baba’ has gained over 1.6 million views, 17,300 reactions, 1,200 comments, and 8,400 shares so far.
Soch Fact Check found the claim circulating here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook, here on Instagram, here on YouTube, and here, here, and here on TikTok.
Conclusion: The video is manipulated, likely using AI tools.
Background image in cover photo: ksamofa & elonmusk
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com