Prayut’s Social Media Ban

The ASEAN Post

22 October 2018

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s move to launch a new Facebook page, new Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a new website, has been met with mixed reactions on social media with some praising and others criticising him. About a week after the 14th general election in Malaysia, RSIS research analyst Najwa Abdullah and research assistant Amalina Anuar wrote a commentary on the effect social media had on the historic election result. The researchers noted that news sent via WhatsApp usually comes from trusted family and friends, which made it difficult for the ruling party at the time to control the narrative. Secondly, while the ruling party’s campaign content was of higher quality, it failed to connect with Malaysians on an emotional level, unlike Pakatan Harapan’s campaigning that appeared to be sincere.

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