Manipulating Civic Space: Cyber Trolling in Thailand and the Philippines

Abstract

In Thailand and the Philippines cyber bullies targeting internationally supported civil society groups contribute to the global trend of shrinking civic space by manipulating social media content to mobilise public disap­proval of dissent. One effective tactic is to label internationally endorsed civic groups as Western agents and thereby traitors. Thailand's incumbent military regime has systematically devised methods to suppress dissent, while the Philippines' illiberally inclined government has diminished civic space. Social media is a crucial tool for both governments to quell critics. "Cyber troops" are organised by the Thai state and even private traditionalist citizens. In the Philippines, "keyboard armies" tend to be President Duterte's supporters and are in some cases allegedly paid. These actors promulgate pro-government messages, surveil and report civic defiance to the authorities, bully and threaten critics online, and orchestrate offline harassment campaigns. Cyber troops effectively use "patriotic trolling" to highlight the international funding of civil society groups, which they claim is proof of their serving the interests of the "West" and their treason. The nationalist undertone often sparks national outrage, justifying the government to curb advocacy for democracy and rights. Cyber bullying is a symptom of increasingly polarised societies and should be situated in a broader political context. The Thai and Philippine governments manipulate cyber space to consolidate their power while exacerbating social divide. To tackle the global trend of shrinking civic space, European policymakers, aid agencies, and political foundations must take two measures. First, to combat attempts to label civil society as an exogenous threat to national integrity, efforts should be made to vernacularise policy discourses on democracy and human rights so as to generate local legitimacy of civil society. Second, because cyber bullying is also carried out by ordinary citizens against those deemed adversaries, international organisations should play a discrete role in facilitating local initiatives to overcome social divides.