Fake Indonesian president TikTok account fools users with 'cash handout' video

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 29, 2023 at 09:32
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

A TikTok account impersonating Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, has shared a video that purportedly shows him announcing a government cash handout to anyone who follows the page. The clip actually shows the Indonesian leader announcing financial support for street vendors during the pandemic in 2021. A presidential spokesperson said Jokowi does not have a TikTok account.

The video, which was uploaded on TikTok on July 24, 2023, shows Jokowi giving a speech in which he announces an Indonesian government handout of 1.2 million rupiah ($78), without giving further details.

The 22-second clip then shows a person following a TikTok account with Jokowi's photo as its profile picture, and liking and sharing a video of him.

"1,200,000 Indonesian rupiahs will be given to those who follow this step," reads Indonesian-language text laid over the video, which has racked up more than 6.4 million views.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on August 26, 2023

The video also surfaced elsewhere on TikTok here, here and here, as well as on video-sharing app Snack Video here, garnering more than a million views.

Comments from social media users suggest they believed the claim.

"By the name of God, God's will, I hope I can get aid from Mr President Jokowi," one TikTok user commented on the video.

Another commented that they hoped the aid "can help pay school tuition".

Screenshot of TikTok users' comments

Pandemic handout

The TikTok video of Jokowi circulating in false posts actually shows him announcing financial aid for street vendors during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

A reverse image search on Yandex found the clip posted by the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel on October 9, 2021 (archived link).

"The Indonesian President's Press Statement on the Launch of Cash Aid Programme for Street Vendors, Yogyakarta, October 9, 2021," the video's title says.

The clip in false posts was taken from the 1:14 and 1:20 timestamp of the Indonesian President Secretariat's YouTube video.

Below is a screenshot of the video shared in the false post (left) and the genuine video (right):

Screenshot of the video shared in the false post (left) and the genuine video (right)

In 2021, the Indonesian government handed 1.2 million rupiah to street vendors and stall owners affected by the pandemic.

Only vendors with a business permit and in an area with high social restrictions were eligible for the payout, the Indonesian newspaper Kompas reported on October 22, 2021 (archived link).

Meanwhile, the TikTok account shown in the video is not connected to Jokowi.

Bey Machmudin, deputy for protocol, press, and media affairs at the Presidential Secretariat, told AFP on August 15, 2023 that Jokowi did not have a TikTok account.

The TikTok account that posted the false video included a link in its bio to a company called Nuri Cashback but it later changed to Bank Neo.

As of August 29, 2023, the fake Jokowi account has more than 181,700 followers.

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