TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Four images circulated on Instagram [archive] and Facebook, claiming to show President Prabowo Subianto inaugurating Mahfud MD as Indonesia's Attorney General.
Two images depicted the inauguration, while the rest are photo collages of several national political figures. The narrative claims that Mahfud immediately began investigating a major corruption case a week after his inauguration.
Here is the narration:
Mahfud MD was recently reinaugurated into Prabowo Subianto's administration — and his first move immediately shocked the public. Less than a week into office, Mahfud dared to readdress a major case that had previously been considered "taboo."
But is it true that Prabowo has appointed Mahfud as Attorney General?
FACT CHECK
Tempo verified the content using live visual analysis, a deepfake detection tool, comparing the narration with credible information, and interviewing Mahfud. The results showed that the images were AI-generated. Mahfud does not serve as the Attorney General.
"I don't hold any position," Mahfud told Tempo in a WhatsApp message on Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
Mahfud served as a member of the Commission of National Police Reform Acceleration in the Prabowo administration, as reported in the June 14, 2026, edition of Tempo Magazine. This position only lasted three months, starting in November 2025.
Image Verification
Image 1
The first image is claimed to depict Mahfud enforcing the law in a major case. The image also features the face of what is said to be the Chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Megawati Soekarnoputri. However, the faces of both Mahfud and Megawati Soekarnoputri appear odd, as they do not resemble their real faces.
The content also claims that Mahfud alluded to the 2022 BAKTI 4G BTS corruption case after taking office recently. However, online news reports indicate that Mahfud last commented on the case in 2023, when he served as Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam).
The AI content detection app, AI or Not, stated that the image was 93 percent artificial intelligence and 25 percent deepfake. It had a 34 percent probability that the model used was Nano Banana, 41 percent that it was Stable Diffusion, and 18 percent that it was GPT-4o. Meanwhile, Truth Scan concluded that the image was 97 percent AI-generated.
Image 2
In the second image, two oddities are also visible. Among them, the man in the red vest appears to have two right hands and Megawati's index finger is cut off. Oddities like this are often found in AI-manipulated content.
Meanwhile, AI or NOT stated that the image was 31 percent deepfake, while Truth Scan classified it as digitally edited content.
Image 3
In the image that appears to show Mahfud's oath-taking office ceremony, Prabowo and Mahfud's faces also appear different from their original photos.
Hive Moderation detected the content as deepfake with a 26.3 percent probability and a 67.9 percent probability of AI manipulation. Truth Scan also labeled it as a digitally edited image.
Image 4
This other image of Mahfud's inauguration by Prabowo also shows the faces and postures of the two men differing from reality. Furthermore, the background of the image does not show the room in the State Palace, which is typically used for official inaugurations.
AI or NOT and Truth Scan both concluded the fourth image was AI content, with 83 percent and 96 percent confidence levels, respectively.
CONCLUSION
Tempo's verification concludes that the narration in the circulating photos showing President Prabowo Subianto appointing Mahfud MD as Attorney General is false.
TEMPO FACT CHECK TEAM
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