Misinformation and mudslinging are common on Indonesian social media as the February 2024 presidential election approaches. A recent example involves a video of a Catholic procession in Venezuela, which has been falsely touted as a demonstration of support for presidential hopeful Anies Baswedan in Papua New Guinea. The video, originally posted as a joke by supporters of a rival candidate, was later shared by netizens who seemingly believed it was genuine footage of Anies’ supporters in Papua New Guinea.
“Wowwww… Seguidores de Anies Baswedan en Papúa Nueva Guinea,” reads the Indonesian text on a video posted on January 25, 2024 by a TikTok account supporting the Indonesian presidential candidate.
“Espero que Anies sea elegido como presidente de Papúa Nueva Guinea.”
The video, which shows a large crowd filling a major road, received over 300 views before being taken down.
This misinformation comes amid the upcoming February 14 election in Indonesia, where approximately 205 million people will vote for President Joko Widodo’s successor. Three main candidates vying for the position are Anies, ex-Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto.
The false claim has been widely circulated on social media, garnering a total 417,500 views after being shared by other pro-Anies TikTok accounts. This case aligns with a trend of misinformation and satire surrounding the election.
A satirical post originally shared by Prabowo fans, who teased Anies’ supporters for confusing Papua New Guinea with the Indonesian region of Papua, led to widespread confusion among netizens. The video was later shared by other accounts as a joke, contributing to the spread of this misinformation.
A reverse image search and a keyword search on TikTok revealed that the original video depicted a religious procession in Venezuela, specifically the Divina Pastora procession in Barquisimeto. The procession is an annual religious event that takes place on January 14 and involves millions of Catholic participants. Images and videos from the genuine event corroborate the fact that the video in question was indeed from Venezuela, not Papua New Guinea.
These events underline the importance of fact-checking and identifying misinformation, especially in the context of upcoming elections. AFP has previously fact-checked similar cases of misinformation during Indonesia’s 2019 election and will continue to monitor and verify information in the lead-up to the 2024 election.