A video is circulating on the internet showing several men being held captive and secured with duct tape. The visibly tired men were given headgear, along with layers of tight taping, to make them look like the Teletubbies (a 90’s British children’s television series). The men were completely restrained with tape, with only the eyes, nose, and palms of the lower torsos remaining.
The video has been shared as originating from Indonesia, where a young man is said to have decided to teach the thieves a lesson. X’s post stated that homeowners were often the victims of theft and that the police were not very helpful.
After that, the man decided to take matters into his own hands and, with the help of his neighbors, set a trap. He soon managed to arrest four people who had broken into his courtyard at night, before being tied up with duct tape and compared to the Teletubbies character Tinky Winky.
According to the post, the video went viral after he decided to make the thief famous by sharing a clip of him in action.
However, according to news reports, this story appears to be heavily fabricated. Although this video originates from Indonesia and was not generated by AI, it is not an example of human torture being used as punishment for intrusion.
Rather, it was just an example of a desperate attempt to “go viral” on social media. According to Indonesia’s Detik News, the video was created by a group of online streamers from Malang, East Java, who go by the name “Batre TV YouTube Content Creators.”
Their videos focus on humor and this video was created during a live streaming session. Speaking to Detik News, one of the influencers behind the viral video said she was asked to do so by one of her viewers and ended up wrapping herself in duct tape. He told reporters that he felt sick after eating the shrimp and his face began to look worried.
They said certain Instagram handles then used the video without their permission with a false narrative. “Finally, an Instagram account called ‘Harian Kampung’ was hacked. It provided a low-quality and inappropriate narrative that eventually went viral and spread across all social media,” the content creator told Detik News. You can read the full report here.
