Video of rally against Indonesian pulp company misrepresented as disaster response protest
- Published on December 23, 2025 at 09:40
- 2 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
As Indonesian civil society groups demanded a swifter response and greater mobilisation of national resources to help those affected by devastating floods and landslides on the island of Sumatra, a month-old video was shared in posts falsely claiming it showed protesters angry that the government had "failed to address flooding". The video in fact shows villagers calling on the local government to shut down a pulp company that they said was causing ecological damage.
"Failed to address flooding in North Sumatra. Residents protested at Governor Bobby Nasution's office," reads Indonesian-language text superimposed on a TikTok video shared on December 14, 2025.
The video shows a group of protesters shaking an ornately decorated white and gold gate.
It circulated as torrential rains triggered catastrophic floods and landslides in the northwestern island of Sumatra, killing at least 1,110 people (archived here and here).
The province of North Sumatra is headed by Governor Bobby Nasution, son-in-law of former president Joko Widodo.
The video was also shared alongside similar claims on TikTok as frustration mounted in Indonesia over sluggish relief efforts that have fuelled demands for Jakarta to declare a national disaster and permit international assistance into affected areas.
In Aceh, on the northwestern tip of Sumatra, student groups and civil society organisations gathered outside the local parliament in the provincial capital Banda Aceh demanding swifter action and greater mobilisation of national resources for relief efforts (archived link).
Organisers said that a national disaster declaration, which the government has so far resisted, was needed given the widespread damage.
While the circulating video does show a protest outside the governor's office in the capital of North Sumatra's provincial capital Medan city, it predates the disaster (archived link).
As of December 23, there have been no official reports of protests outside the governor's office about the local government's response to the floods.
Protest against pulp company
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video found the same footage published by a local media organisation reporting on protests against a pulp company.
Environmentalists and experts have pointed to the role forest loss played in the recent disaster; forests help absorb rainfall and stabilise the ground held by their roots, and their absence makes areas more prone to flash flooding and landslides (archived link).
The footage, however, was posted by local media organisation Mataberita on its Facebook page on November 14 (archived link).
"While protesters gathered at the North Sumatra governor's office, Bobby Nasution fled to the presidential palace in Jakarta," read its overlaid text.
Local media organisation Kompas reported that villagers held a protest on November 10, where they called for the closure of the Toba Pulp Lestari company, alleging that its operations have caused ecological damage and blocked access to roads (archived link).
Similar footage was also published by Nusantara TV and Hariane.com (archived here and here).
AFP previously debunked misinformation about the Sumatra disaster.
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