Demonstrations in Indonesia against financial perks for lawmakers turned violent after a police vehicle ran over a 21-year-old delivery driver, but a video of a large crowd marching down a street that surfaced as protests first began on August 25 is AI-generated.
“Jakarta today! Thousands of students from various universities have started arriving, marching together toward the DPR building under tight military guard,” says an Indonesian-language voiceover of a YouTube video shared on August 25, 2025.
It depicts throngs of people dressed in the supposed colours of their schools while carrying banners displaying their demands. Alongside the marching crowd, military troops are seen standing guard with weapons.
The video surfaced on the same day hundreds of protesters rallied outside Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR), angry about lavish benefits for lawmakers that include a housing allowance nearly 10 times the minimum wage of the capital (archived link).
The demonstrations turned violent and escalated into the biggest test of President Prabowo Subianto’s 10-month presidency after a black tactical van from the Mobile Brigade Corps (Brimob) paramilitary unit ran over and killed 21-year-old driver Affan Kurniawan.
The footage went viral and stoked further anger over police tactics, with protests then spreading across Indonesian cities. Six people were killed in the unrest, which has forced Prabowo into cutting the financial perks for lawmakers (archived link).
Screenshot of false post taken on August 29, with a red X added by AFP
The video surfaced elsewhere on YouTube and Facebook, with users leaving comments indicating they believed it was genuine.
“May all the students who protested be granted health and safety…!!!” one wrote.
“Students who stand up for the poor — thank you, fellow students,” another said.
However, the video is not genuine footage from the protests in Jakarta — it was generated using AI.
A reverse image search on Google led to a YouTube video uploaded by an account called “Army Zone AI” on August 20, 2025 (archived link).
“All the content you see here — from visuals and audio to the storyline — was entirely produced using artificial intelligence (AI) technology,” the video’s description states. The video is also flagged as “altered/synthetic content”.
Screenshot comparison of false post (left) and YouTube video (right)
The same account has also repeatedly uploaded other AI-generated visuals of the protests in Indonesia since then.
The video of the march contains visual inconsistencies typical of AI-generated visuals, such as gibberish text on the banners, distorted faces and unnaturally moving vehicles.
Screenshots of the YouTube short video with nonsensical Indonesian text highlighted by AFP
AFP has previously debunked misinformation misusing AI-generated content here.
