A video that gained significant attention on TikTok claimed to depict the arrest of the individual responsible for burning photos of Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka during recent protests. The video, shared on April 2, 2025, had over 12,000 views, showing a hooded figure being led by a police officer from a vehicle.
The video circulated following nationwide demonstrations in February, where protesters opposed budget cuts by Prabowo’s administration. These cuts were intended to fund a free-meal program for schoolchildren and fulfill other significant campaign promises. During these protests, reports emerged from Malang in East Java province that some demonstrators had burned images of the president and vice president.
Contrary to the video’s claims, the Malang Police Department confirmed that no arrests had been made concerning the burning of the portraits. Separate reports indicated that at least six individuals were detained and subsequently released in Makassar, South Sulawesi province, after a related protest escalated.
Further investigation revealed that the video in question was not related to the protests. A reverse image search identified the footage as originating from a news report by local media TvOne, uploaded on YouTube on February 23, 2023. The report detailed the arrest of seven debt collectors accused of forcefully repossessing a car and threatening the police. This unrelated incident was used to falsely depict the protest-related arrest.
KompasTV also covered the debt collectors’ arrests, showing similar footage of the involved individuals. The spread of this misinformation highlights ongoing challenges in verifying the authenticity of social media content related to protests in Indonesia.
