A wave of posts on X falsely claimed Indonesia had agreed to buy 42 Chengdu J-10 fighter jets from China in a deal worth US$9 billion, drawing about 13,500 interactions after the narrative began circulating on May 2, 2026. One of the first accounts to push the claim, China Pulse, said the sale had already been sealed, while other posts framed the jet as a battlefield winner over France’s Rafale.
That version of events did not hold up. Indonesian Army Brig. Gen. Rico Ricardo Sirait said on May 8 that the government was still exploring fighter jet options on the market and had not decided to buy the J-10 from China. His denial came as 14 English-language accounts repeated the sale claim, even as Indonesia had already signed contracts to procure 42 Rafale units in 2022-2024 and the Ministry of Defense announced a plan in October 2025 to purchase the Chengdu J-10.
The claims took root in a charged information environment shaped by the India-Pakistan fighting in Pahalgam, Kashmir, from May 7 to 10, 2025, when Pakistan used Chinese-made J-10Cs and India deployed French-made Dassault Rafale jets. Pakistan’s success in shooting down an Indian Rafale drew wide attention on social media on the first day of the fighting, and that moment became a ready-made talking point for accounts promoting the Chinese jet.
One post from Border Watch Pakistan said the purchase decision was made after the J-10C’s performance proved satisfactory in air combat involving the Pakistan Air Force against India in May 2025. The message fit a broader pattern identified by Tempo, which found a suspected information operation aimed at polishing the image of the Chengdu J-10 after the war broke out. Tempo and ThinkFI said they found involvement from pro-China and pro-Pakistan actors in shaping that material.
The China Pulse account, which Tempo identified as the first to spread the false claim that Indonesia had bought 42 J-10 fighter jets, was especially active. The post was shared more than 2,000 times and liked by 11,000 accounts. Tempo traced the account to ID 1517523151219044353 and said the same ID had previously been attached to TZ00G, an account that posted Arabic-language content throughout 2022-2024 before changing its name six times. Established in Xihui, Beijing, in April 2022, the account later switched to English in 2025 and by 2026 was circulating narratives about closeness between China and Pakistan.
Tempo said it had not received a response from China Pulse by May 15, 2026. For now, the facts are plain: there is no confirmed Indonesian order for 42 Chengdu J-10 jets, only a flood of coordinated posts trying to make one sound real.
