In such cleverly edited clips, people are seen doing or saying things they never did or said. An Instagram account has released a YouTube clip where Rizieq derisively called President Jokowi “Jokodok”, calling it a deepfake. Netizens, though, have been quick to question the veracity of the video. The clip was an edited version of a 2015 religious parade where the FPI leader spoke at length about fighting communist and liberal ideologies in the country.  

Although it is now clear that the video is neither a deepfake nor has it gained significant traction online, the term “deepfake” itself has been weaponized as disinformation.

Despite not being one, the video still achieved the effect of victimhood by propagating the Islamists’ long-time trope of the government criminalizing the ulama (Muslim clerics). As some like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg observed, even crudely altered videos (sometimes termed “cheap fakes”) can be convincing to certain viewers.

Visual disinformation plays into existing echo chambers that could deepen political division. The edited video of Rizieq’s speech, for example, confirms the opposition’s viewpoint that they are under siege, especially in the aftermath of the killing of six FPI supporters.

At the same time, it strengthens the position of the ruling party’s supporters that they have been framed. The result is a political zero-sum game where online clashes interplays with real-life skirmishes, potentially culminating in more violent conflicts. 

The role of state-of-the-art technology like artificial intelligence has thus been peripheral in terms of disinformation in Indonesia so far. But not for much longer.

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