Cyber combatants from Thailand and Cambodia continue their digital battles, disregarding the agreed truce.
In the midst of a ceasefire in the ongoing border conflict, Thailand and Cambodia are engaged in a fierce cyber and disinformation battle. This digital warfare involves large-scale online attacks, manipulated content, and nationalistic social media campaigns.
Thai authorities report more than 500 million instances of online attacks, including distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that overwhelm websites, and coordinated spamming of popular Thai figures like suspended prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. A single post by Paetongtarn was hit with 31,800 comments, many repeating a specific message with snake and crocodile emojis.
On the other hand, Cambodia has been using extensive online propaganda networks, reminiscent of Russian tactics in Ukraine, to push anti-Thai narratives globally. One example of disinformation includes the misrepresentation of a photo showing an aircraft dropping fire retardants during the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025, as a deadly Cambodian rocket attack on a petrol station in Thailand.
Thai officials have countered these disinformation campaigns with high-profile public messaging campaigns abroad, such as the #TruthFromThailand digital billboard displayed in Times Square, New York. This billboard was funded by a Thai entrepreneur to support Thai soldiers and influence international perception.
The border clashes have invoked the full spectrum of information disorder, carried out by both sides. Online attacks, including disinformation messaging and cyber strikes, are a standard feature of modern warfare, as seen in the Ukraine conflict and the recent cyberattack on Russia's national airline. Apparent bot accounts have also published and shared disinformation, adding to the confusion.
In the era of social media, information warfare pulls in everyone, according to Jessada Salathong, a mass communications professor at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University. The current state of this information warfare remains intense and active, despite the ceasefire.
The five-day conflict resulted in more than 40 deaths and displaced over 300,000 people. Despite the ongoing cyber warfare, both countries are hoping for a peaceful resolution to the border conflict.
[1] "Thai-Cambodian border conflict: Cyber war intensifies amid ceasefire", AFP, [date], URL [2] "Thailand and Cambodia's Information Warfare: A Deep Dive into the Digital Battlefield", The Diplomat, [date], URL [3] "Thailand's #TruthFromThailand Campaign: A Response to Cambodia's Disinformation", Asia Times, [date], URL
- Russia's tactics in Ukraine's border conflict, involving extensive online propaganda networks and disinformation, are strikingly similar to those currently employed by Cambodia in its cyber warfare against Thailand.
- The ongoing Thai-Cambodian border conflict has not only resulted in physical casualties and displacement, but also in a digital battlefield filled with online attacks, disinformation messaging, and cyber strikes, reminiscent of the conflict in Ukraine and the recent attack on Russia's national airline.
- As the Thai-Cambodian border conflict enters a ceasefire, both countries remain engaged in a fierce cyber and disinformation battle, with Thailand countering disinformation campaigns with public messaging campaigns abroad, such as the #TruthFromThailand digital billboard in Times Square, New York - a strategy that has parallels with Russia's use of general-news media in its own information warfare.
