Jakarta. A senior Indonesian lawmaker has urged women who were secretly filmed at the country's largest auto exhibition to consider legal action against a content creator whose videos sparked widespread criticism on social media.

The controversy centers on Emanuel Bryan, who posts online under the name Ebemartono. Bryan filmed several sales promotion girls (SPGs) at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) using what appeared to be a hidden camera mounted on a pair of glasses.

The edited videos, published across several social media platforms under the title "How to Approach a Girl at an Exhibition," showed Bryan initially asking the women about the vehicles on display before shifting to questions about their personal lives.

The controversy escalated after one of the women asked Bryan to remove her video. According to public exchanges on social media, Bryan responded by requesting compensation for what he described as his production costs before taking the content down.

On Monday, Habiburokhman, chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission on Legal Affairs, said the women who appeared in the videos could seek legal remedies under Indonesian law.

"I want to stress that public spaces, including automotive exhibitions such as GIIAS, must be safe and comfortable for everyone, including women who are carrying out their professional duties," Habiburokhman said in a video statement.

He argued that secretly recording individuals without their consent for commercial purposes or social media popularity could violate several Indonesian laws, including provisions governing portrait rights, electronic sexual harassment, and privacy protections under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.

"I encourage the victims to file an official police report," he said.

Bryan later issued a public apology and removed the videos following the backlash.

"I should never have mentioned production costs or made those comments in the comment section. Going forward, I will be more careful about the videos I post," he said in a video statement on Monday.

Bryan has built a substantial online following through videos featuring well-known Indonesian public figures, including celebrity Raffi Ahmad and prominent lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea. His Instagram and TikTok accounts have attracted hundreds of thousands of followers.

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