Court footage falsely linked to row over social media account that criticised Indonesian president

Published on November 6, 2024 at 11:28
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

Controversy over the ownership of a social media account used to criticise Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto before he assumed office has continued, with some suggesting it belonged to Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka. However, an old clip of a judge in an unrelated case jailing Roy Suryo -- one of Gibran's most vocal critics -- has resurfaced in posts falsely suggesting Roy was sentenced for being the account's owner.

"It turns out that Roy Suryo is the owner of the Fufufafa account, not Gibran," read the text in a TikTok video posted on November 3, 2024, referring to the account that criticised Subianto before he was elected president.

The video shows a judge reading a verdict to Roy, a former youth and sports minister.

"KRMT Roy Suryo Notodiprojo has been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt of spreading information that will cause hatred or hostility towards individuals based on ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations," the judge says in the clip.

The chyron in the clip reads: "Roy Suryo sentenced to nine months in prison for uploading a stupa meme".

Screenshot of the false post, captured on November 4, 2024

Gibran's vice presidency has been criticised after his father -- former president Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi -- lowered the minimum age for candidates so that the 37-year-old could run for office (archived link).

The posts circulated after Gibran allegedly criticised Subianto on social media under the pseudonym "Fufufafa" between 2014 and 2019 (archived link).

Roy has told Indonesian media that he was "99.99 percent sure" that Gibran owned the account after analysing its language and interactions with other accounts (archived link).

Posts with the same false claim were also shared on TikTok here and here, and on YouTube, racking up more than 4.1 million views.

However, the video actually shows Roy's sentencing for an unrelated case in 2022.

Court sentencing

A keyword search with text in the video's chyron found the same clip uploaded by Indonesian local broadcaster Kompas TV on December 29, 2022 (archived link).

The video shows the judge sentencing Roy after he was found guilty of inciting hatred by posting images that superimposed Jokowi's face on a Buddhist statue -- which Indonesian media referred to as the "stupa meme" (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the original video from Kompas TV (right):

Screenshot comparison between the false video (left) and the original video from Kompas TV (right)

The picture in the top left-hand corner of the false video was taken from a viral photo from 2012, showing Roy sleeping during a parliament assembly when he was a House of Representatives member (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked an edited video that purports to show Gibran announcing he was stepping down as vice president before his official inauguration.

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