After footage of an anti-austerity protester calling President Prabowo Subianto a “canine” sparked anger amongst his supporters in Indonesia, a video was shared in posts that falsely claimed the demonstrator had been recognized as the top of a pupil group and was below arrest. The video in truth reveals a number of ladies who have been held on suspicion of embezzling billions of rupiahs from a public well being centre.
“The girl who insulted the president in the course of the protest by calling Prabowo a ‘canine’ was formally arrested,” reads the Indonesian-language caption of a TikTok video shared on February 28, 2025.
The video, considered greater than 37,000 occasions, reveals prosecution service officers escorting a number of ladies sporting masks and jail uniforms. Audio of somebody singing “Prabowo is a canine” could be heard within the background.
Overlaid textual content hails the “energy of Indonesian netizens” in resulting in the arrest of the protester who insulted the president, saying she is the top of the scholar group of Airlangga College, a state college in Surabaya.
Screenshot of the false TikTok publish, captured on March 13, 2025
The video circulated after footage emerged of a protester delivering a speech and singing “Prabowo is a canine” throughout nationwide demonstrations in February in opposition to funds cuts by Prabowo’s authorities geared toward funding a free-meal programme and different big-ticket marketing campaign pledges (archived here and here).
Austerity measures introduced by Prabowo in late January had sparked hundreds of pupil protesters to rally throughout Indonesian cities, underpinned by a social media motion often known as “Darkish Indonesia”.
The footage of the protester insulting the president triggered outrage from government supporters and pro-government influencers, who mentioned she had “gone too far” (archived here, here and here).
The footage purportedly exhibiting the arrested protester was shared in comparable posts elsewhere on TikTok, X and YouTube.
However as of March 18 there have been no official reviews concerning the protester’s id or whether or not she had been detained.
Airlangga College’s pupil physique president Aulia Thaariq Akbar informed AFP on March 14 the girl filmed insulting Prabowo just isn’t a member of his organisation.
Aulia added that no members of his organisation have been arrested after the protests.
A reverse image search on Google utilizing keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the identical footage posted on native broadcaster Semarang TV’s TikTok web page on January 24 (archived link).
The clip’s Javanese-language caption says it reveals two Kemusu Public Well being Middle employees named as suspects in a corruption investigation.
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared video (L) and the Semarang TV clip
The identical footage was additionally revealed on Semarang TV News’ YouTube channel and the Liputan6 verified YouTube channel (archived here and here).
Based on native media outlet Detik.com, the suspects labored as accountants on the facility within the Boyolali regency of Central Java province (archived link). They have been alleged to have pocketed 1.9 billion rupiah ($116,000) between 2017 and 2022.
AFP beforehand debunked one other false declare concerning the funds minimize protests.
