TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The X social media timeline was flooded with footage of protests in Indonesia from late July through the first week of August 2026. Numerous accounts reported that the protests took place in Jakarta to oppose government policies deemed detrimental to the public.
The verified account @ngabmessy, for instance, uploaded a 1-minute-21-second video on July 31, 2026, showing a line of university students wearing blue jackets. The user claimed that mass media outlets did not broadcast the protest due to pressure from government agencies. "Some media outlets have been silenced to protect the family," the user wrote.
The account @bagindo_kopi shared a 12-second video on August 3, 2026, claiming that a group of students wearing yellow jackets was protesting at the House of Representatives (DPR RI) building and the State Palace without media coverage. "Most media outlets and television stations are mouthpieces for those in power," wrote the account, which has 23,000 followers.
Videos of protests have been circulating widely in the lead-up to the 81st anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia. The Tempo Fact Check Team gathered samples of protest-related content circulating on X between July 27 and August 7, 2026.
Searches using Google, Yandex, and Bing reverse image search tools revealed that these videos were being shared out of context. Most of the footage documents student protests that took place on June 12, 2026.
A Series of Protests in Jakarta Throughout July 2026
Various groups held a number of protests in Jakarta throughout July 2026 to criticize entities ranging from the Attorney General's Office to the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) project. However, no demonstrations took place at the House of Representatives (DPR RI) building or the State Palace.
The list of protests in Jakarta during July 2026 compiled by Tempo includes:
- July 8, 2026: The Indonesian Women's Alliance (API) staged a protest in front of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) office. They demanded justice for the people of Papua in response to rising militarism.
- July 22, 2026: The National Legal Intellectuals Network (JIHN) held a protest in front of the Attorney General's Office. They demanded the immediate arrest and detention of the former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Febrie Adriansyah. A scuffle involving pushing and shoving broke out between the crowd and the police.
- July 27, 2026: The United Kwini 8 Residents' Communication Forum held a protest in the Horse Statue (Patung Kuda) area, Gambir, Central Jakarta. The crowd voiced their opposition to planned evictions in the Kwini area.
- July 27, 2026: The Student Executive Board (BEM) of Ibnu Chaldun University Jakarta demonstrated in front of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) office on Jalan Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta.
- July 30, 2026: The Papuan Student Alliance held a demonstration in the Horse Statue area, Central Jakarta, on Thursday, July 30, 2026. They raised a number of humanitarian issues.
- July 31, 2026: A demonstration by the Aqsa Working Group and several other groups in the Gambir area.
- July 31, 2026: A demonstration by an association of Indonesian Muslim students in front of the PT Kredivo Finance office.
Video Sample Verification Results
Tempo’s examination of 10 video samples—purported to show protests from the July–August 2026 period—revealed discrepancies regarding the timing and events depicted.
Video 1
The event shown in the video uploaded by the account @ngabmessi was actually a demonstration demanding that the government evaluate the free nutritious meal program and the Merah Putih Village Cooperative, held at the House of Representatives (DPR RI) building on June 19, 2026. The dark blue jackets worn by the protesters were the official jackets of Trisakti University. A similar video from a different angle was previously uploaded to the Pikiran Rakyat YouTube channel on June 20, 2026, as evidenced by the matching flags and the tall building visible behind the crowd of protesters.
Video 2
The video uploaded by the account @bagindo_kopi shows a protest by the University of Indonesia (UI) Student Executive Board (BEM) and a student alliance at the Bundaran HI area, demanding the halting of the free nutritious meal project and the Merah Putih Village Cooperative in Central Jakarta on Friday, June 12, 2026. The positioning of the police lines and the building architecture in the video match those seen in photos and footage released on June 12, 2026, by the Suma UI Instagram account and the media outlet Merdeka (via YouTube).
Video 3
The video from the @Jelli_cent account actually shows a protest held in front of the Pati Regent's Office on Wednesday, August 13, 2025. At the time, Pati residents were protesting a 250 percent increase in land and building taxes. Kompas TV uploaded a video showing the same scene from a different angle; that footage captures a police officer fleeing an angry mob, just as seen in the widely circulated video.
Video 4
The @AraituLaki account took a video from the Suara.com TikTok account that was uploaded on June 12, 2026. The video shows a crowd breaking through police barricades during a BEM UI demonstration on June 12, 2026, in the Bundaran HI area of Central Jakarta.
Video 5
The protest video uploaded by the account @BebySoSweet is identical to content posted by photographer Ari Wibisono. Ari documented the scene on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman during the BEM UI demonstration on June 12, 2026. The audio used on X was taken from a TikTok sound template generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Video 6
The account @MonicWingacor uploaded a video showing residents distributing drinking water to university students participating in a demonstration at the HI Roundabout on August 8, 2026.
In reality, the video is a recording of a student protest that took place on June 12, 2026. It had previously been uploaded by the Instagram account Jonathan Supit on that same date.
Video 7
The protest video uploaded by the account @ommi_siregar bears the Al Jazeera logo. It includes a location tag indicating Bandung and the date June 15, 2026. The event depicted is actually a protest by an alliance of students and members of the public on Jalan Diponegoro, in front of the West Java Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) building. The crowd was demanding a review of economic policies, opposing fuel price hikes, and calling for an overhaul of the Police Bill and a reversal of militarization.
Video 8
The account @YohanesEmacw shared a video of a protest crowd in the Dukuh Atas area on August 3, 2026, implying that the events in the video were taking place at the time of posting. In reality, the original video came from the Instagram account @menantangarus, dated June 12, 2026. It captured a protest by the UI Student Executive Board (BEM UI) and a student alliance that had remained at Dukuh Atas following a demonstration at the Bundaran HI roundabout.
Video 9
The video uploaded by the account @RayylambeabangR on August 3, 2026, was sourced from the TikTok account @manwelm101; however, the video has since been removed from that TikTok account.
Based on the flags and banners held by the protesters, the video was identified as having been filmed during a demonstration by Trisakti University students at the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta on Friday, June 19, 2026. A similar video, shot from a different angle, was uploaded by Tempo, and a photograph of the event was found on the Suara Surabaya news portal.
Video 10
The protest-related content uploaded by the account @TaliUdeng consists of two distinct clips. The first clip, sourced from the account @devprinceps, captures the moment the Papuan Student Alliance held a demonstration near the Horse Statue (Patung Kuda) in Central Jakarta on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
The second clip originates from the account @netizenkampuz. The footage shows a shoving match that occurred during a demonstration by the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board (BEM UI) at the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout (Bundaran HI) on June 12, 2026.
Attempt to Mislead
Arif Maulana, Deputy Chairperson for Advocacy and Networking at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), views the dissemination of these videos—presented out of context—as a form of information manipulation. He suspects a propaganda effort aimed at framing protests negatively and inciting public fear.
"Protests are perceived as triggers for riots that threaten security, whereas public protests are a constitutional right," Arif said when contacted by Tempo on Thursday, August 6, 2026.
Arif added that the spread of such manipulative content risks diverting public attention away from the scrutiny of critical issues, such as the implementation of the MBG project and the Merah Putih (Red and White) Village Cooperatives.
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