State earns weak marks for messaging during tension

Social media platforms in Thailand recorded 2.6 million messages in July about Thailand-Cambodia border tensions, with Facebook, YouTube and X the top three channels.

- SUCHIT LEESA-NGUANSUK

However, communication executives said government officials still fail to effectively communicate during crises and amid cyberwarfare.

According to Kla Tangsuwan, chief executive of Wisesight, a social media analytics firm, the dispute generated total engagement of 606 million messages on Thai social media last month, with peak engagement on July 24 with 129 million messages.

The 2023 general election only generated 1.42 million messages and 95.2 million engagements over a one-month span, noted Wisesight.

The border dispute produced twice the volume of messages as the general election and five times the engagement.

"We detect spam and there are a lot of messages from bots using the Cambodian language," said Mr Kla.

"It’s starting to become a misinformation operation, manipulating people across the country and making them doubt what's real on both sides of the dispute."