Fact Check: Indonesian Businessman Did Not Donate Trillions to Iran

Tempo's fact-checking team has debunked a viral social media claim that an Indonesian businessman, M. Hasbi Al-Khairi, donated trillions of rupiah to Iran. The circulating images, purportedly showing the donation, have been rigorously analyzed and identified as artificial creations using advanced AI models. This thorough verification process, employing reverse image searches, keyword tracing, manual analysis, and AI detection tools, confirms the falsity of the claim.

Tempo's investigation revealed significant irregularities in the provided images. The varying faces of the man in the photos, inconsistent donation amounts (ranging from Rp512 trillion to Rp548 trillion), and the presence of non-standard currency denominations all pointed towards fabrication. Furthermore, AI detection tools like "AI or Not" and "Was It AI" consistently flagged the images as synthetic, with high confidence scores indicating AI generation.

While the Iranian Embassy in Indonesia has indeed initiated a fundraising drive in response to regional tensions, there is no credible evidence to support the assertion of such a massive donation from an Indonesian individual. This is not the first time the name M. Hasbi Al-Khairi has been associated with fabricated news; Tempo previously debunked a hoax involving him as an Iranian military technician. This pattern highlights the need for critical media consumption and the importance of fact-checking in combating the spread of misinformation.