We came across a video circulating on various social media platforms such as TikTok, X and YouTube that shows Anies Baswedan appearing to state in Bahasa Indonesia that he has decided to become a gamer following his defeat in the last presidential elections.
Mr Anies, the former governor of Jakarta, contested in Indonesia’s recent presidential elections in February 2024. He emerged as the runner-up, losing to Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto.
Quitting politics for gaming?
In the video circulating on social media, Mr Anies appears to be speaking at a podium, claiming to be an online gamer and introducing the game he plays, called Honor of Kings. Upon closer inspection of the video, the mouth movements appear artificial at certain parts, suggesting that it could have been manipulated.
We ran reverse image searches of screenshots taken from the video circulating online, which led us to videos uploaded by Medcom, an Indonesian news channel, on their YouTube channel, back in November 2022, prior to Indonesia’s presidential elections.
The video of Mr Anies was taken during his speech at the 11th anniversary event of Indonesia’s National Democratic (NasDem) Party held on 11 November 2022. NasDem, which is the fifth-largest political party in Indonesia, endorsed Mr Anies as its presidential candidate for the 2024 elections, in October 2022.
In his speech, as reported by Indonesian media, Mr Anies spoke about his partnership with NasDem ahead of the presidential elections and expressed gratitude for being endorsed by the party. There was no mention of online gaming.
Hence, Mr Anies did not state that he has decided to become an online gamer after losing in the Indonesian Presidential elections and the video currently circulating on social media of him speaking about online gaming is likely edited.
The voice of Mr Anies in the edited video sounds similar to his actual voice, and the mouth movements even appear to match the edited speech, which might make it harder for people to detect the editing at first glance.
This highlights the rapid improvement of AI technology, and as AI tools become more prevalent, manipulated content can be easily created and used to spread misinformation and disinformation. Therefore, it is essential to remain vigilant when navigating social media and carefully verify the information we encounter.
