Social media and authoritarianism in Southeast Asia

Online event organised as part of the Current Dynamics in Southeast Asia seminar.

Is social media driving a trend towards authoritarianism in Southeast Asia? How are influence operations on social media organised, and what can civil society to do resist such campaigns? This panel brings together three scholars to discuss the deepening entanglement between social media platforms and authoritarian consolidation across Southeast Asia. Drawing on fieldwork and comparative research from Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, the speakers explore how governments and political elites have learned to weaponize the very platforms once celebrated as tools of democratic opening. Janjira Sombatpoonsiri (German Institute for Global and Area Studies, and Chulangkorn University) discusses her new book ‘A Thousand Cuts’ on digital repressession in Thailand. 

This book examines how the Thai government is stiffling dissent by merging “traditional” methods of repression with digital tools. Mai Van Tran’s (Northern Illinois University) research focuses on resistance: how activists, journalists, and civil society organizations are resisting shrinking online space and digital repression, and where these efforts fall short. Kris Ruijgrok (University of Amsterdam) discusses the results of a KITLV research program on the infrastructure of influence operations, detailing the character of the ‘cybertroop’ networks engaged in the manipulation of public opinion through social media. The discussion will be followed by an open Q&A.

Scientific coordination: Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux (CASE, Inalco), Astrid Norén-Nilsson (ACE, Lund), David Camroux (CERI-Sciences Po / CNRS), Delphine Allès (CASE, Inalco)

En partenariat avec :