False posts about Ronaldo 'visiting Indonesia' misuse New Year's Eve video

Published on February 24, 2025 at 06:12
Updated on February 24, 2025 at 08:33
2 min read
By AFP Indonesia

An Indonesian charity's claim it had invited Cristiano Ronaldo to the Southeast Asian nation has sparked misinformation online, including an old clip falsely presented as showing the Portuguese footballer's fans rushing to see him in the capital. The video, which racked up hundreds of thousands of views, shows New Year's Eve revellers in Jakarta in January 2024.

"Thousands of people waiting for Cristiano Ronaldo in Jakarta Indonesia," reads the Indonesian-language text on a TikTok video uploaded on February 19 which has gained more than 900,000 views.

The 10-second clip shows a huge group of people at the entrance of an underpass.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post, captured on February 20, 2025

The post surfaced after Indonesian media reported a health foundation called Yayasan Graha Kasih announced the Al Nassr star was scheduled to arrive in the Indonesian capital on February 18 and head to southern Kupang city for a humanitarian visit the following day (archived link).

But the state-run Antara news agency reported that details of Ronaldo's purported visit "is not clear yet" (archived link).

The video was also shared alongside similar claims on SnackVideo but no official reports indicate the footballer arrived in the archipelago as of February 24.

Misrepresented footage

A reverse image search on Google found the same clip uploaded on TikTok on January 1, 2024 in an account called "jktinfo" which posts Jakarta-related content (archived link).

"A long queue of people wanting to enter the Bundaran HI MRT Station after celebrating New Year's Eve," reads the post's caption, referring to a metro stop in the capital.

The text on the video partly says it shows a "chaotic queue" for the train.

The area around the station, Hotel Indonesia Roundabout in central Jakarta, is one of the most popular places to celebrate New Year's Eve (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the video from the false post (L) and from 2024 (R)

Several people in the crowd can also be seen wearing "2024" headbands to celebrate the new year.

Screenshots from the video show women wearing headbands that say '2024'

AFP has debunked a similar false claim on Ronaldo's purported visit.

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