Interview of popular Indonesian celebrity digitally altered to promote honey product
- Published on February 1, 2024 at 12:14
- 3 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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The 43-second video showing Raffi Ahmad being interviewed by Indonesian journalist Najwa Shihab has been viewed more than 529,000 times on TikTok since it was shared on January 6, 2024 (archived link).
"Raffi Ahmad runs a honey business," reads the Indonesian-language text on the clip, referring to the popular actor and presenter who has since branched into several business ventures including food, fashion and property (archived link).
In the video, Najwa appears to ask Raffi: "It is going viral now, are you opening a honey business? I heard that the honey is pure and is sourced directly from honey farmers. Is it true?"
Raffi can be heard confirming the rumours and goes on to say: "The honey's purity and efficacy have been tested. I hope this honey can become a medicine and become useful for Indonesian people, so that all can get the benefits of this pure honey."
The video cuts to clips of people packaging a honey product with the brand "Kang Madu Official" and Raffi can be heard saying there is a discount on it.
The video was also shared on Facebook, as well as on TikTok here and here, racking up more than 28,000 views.
However, the video has been digitally manipulated to add a fabricated audio track.
Interview about vaccination
Keyword searches on Google found the video in the false posts corresponds to interview footage published on Najwa's official YouTube channel on January 14, 2021 (archived link).
The 10-minute video is titled: "Who Is Afraid of Vaccine - Raffi Ahmad: Feeling Sore and Sleepy After Vaccination (Part 3)", recorded as part of Najwa's popular talk show programme "Mata Najwa".
The description states actor Raffi was among the first people in Indonesia to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and describes the side effects he felt.
Indonesian media reported the actor was among the first individuals to be inoculated on the first day of Indonesia's Covid-19 vaccination drive alongside President Joko Widodo on January 13, 2021, in order to promote the jabs (archived link).
The interview also includes State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir and former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil talking about vaccination.
At no point in the interview does Najwa or any of her guests mention honey.
Najwa says at the beginning of the interview: "Thank you for staying with Mata Najwa. Who is afraid of the vaccine? Clearly, Raffi Ahmad is not afraid because he was vaccinated this morning along with President Jokowi.
"But it's clear that public doubts about the vaccine still exist. From what you have seen, what makes people hesitant, why don't they want to be vaccinated? What are the reasons?"
Raffi responds by saying people were hesitant about the vaccines because of hoaxes on social media.
"People read social media a lot. So, social media sometimes ... you know what I mean. And this is part of my duties as an influencer. I have to ... things that are right should be upheld and things that are wrong should be rejected," he says.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the altered clip (left) and the original Mata Najwa video (right):
Keyword searches of "Kang Madu Official" found no mention of "Raffi Ahmad" on its TikTok account (archived link).
AFP also found no mention of Kang Madu Official on Raffi's Facebook and YouTube accounts (archived links here and here).
On January 31, 2024, Kang Madu Official told AFP that Raffi does not own the company.
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