After Indonesia’s new President Prabowo Subianto announced his pick for finance minister, a manipulated video of the official purportedly announcing a cash gift surfaced on social media. In fact, the original video showed Sri Mulyani Indrawati speaking about tax reform in 2021. A spokesperson from the ministry told AFP the clip is a “hoax”.
“Now that I am officially serving as minister of finance, today I am making a pledge on my new TikTok account,” Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati appears to say in a TikTok video shared on November 1, 2024.
“I will give a gift of 25 million rupiah ($1,580) to those who follow and share this video.”
The video circulated after Indonesia’s new President Prabowo Subianto announced Sri Mulyani as finance minister in his cabinet, making her the only person to serve as a minister under three administrations (archived link).
Screenshot of misinformation post, captured on November 6, 2024
The fabricated video of Sri Mulyani offering a cash prize spread across TikTok here and here, racking up more than 200,000 views.
AFP has debunked similar “cash aid” hoaxes misusing clips of Sri Mulyani and other Indonesian politicians, including Prabowo and his predecessor Joko Widodo.
In August 2024, the minister shared a video made by the finance ministry on her official Instagram account, warning viewers of fake accounts under her name (archived here).
But TikTok users left comments indicating they believed Sri Mulyani was indeed giving away cash.
“I hope I get the prize,” said one user.
“I’m waiting for the prize,” another wrote.
In fact, the finance minister has never made such an offer, said Deni Surjantoro, head of communication and information services for the ministry.
“We assure you that the video is a hoax,” he told AFP on November 8, 2024.
Tax reform video
Keyword searches on Google led to a video posted on Sri Mulyani’s official Facebook page on July 9, 2021, titled: “Webinar Series for Tax Day 2021: Tax Reform In The Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities (8/7/2021)” (archived here).
In the video, Sri Mulyani said Indonesia needed tax reforms to restore the state budget, which was suffering from low revenues.
“Tax reform is very important and necessary, and we cannot avoid it,” she said.
At no point does she mention a cash giveaway.
Sri Mulyani is seen wearing the same outfit and sitting in front of the same background as the clip in the manipulated video.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the manipulated video (left) and the genuine video from Sri Mulyani’s Facebook page (right):
Screenshot comparison of the manipulated video (left) and the genuine video from Sri Mulyani’s Facebook page (right)
