In this webinar, Dr Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, Mr Dien Nguyen An Luong and Dr Clarissa Ai Ling Lee explored the different case studies on how online information warfare is utilised to support the interests of political establishments.
MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY PROGRAMME WEBINAR
Cyber Troops and Organised Propaganda in Southeast Asia Webinar Series
Monday, 2 December 2021 — The ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute held a webinar moderated by Ms. Lee Sue-Ann (Senior Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute) titled “Trends and Trajectories of Online Information Warfare in Three Southeast Asian Countries”. The webinar is part of the webinar series on “Cyber Troops and Organised Propaganda in Southeast Asia”. The webinar featured the products of research conducted by Dr Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, Mr Dien Nguyen An Luong and Dr Clarissa Ai Ling Lee on online information warfare in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Mr Dien’s segment examined “How Cyber Troops and Pro-Government Internet Users Promote Vietnam’s Nationalist Narratives”. Vietnam is currently the only country in the region that has acknowledged its official deployment of cyber troops. The troops are also the largest and the most sophisticated in the region. Mr Dien shared that their aims are to shape public opinion, spread state propaganda as well as to set up, moderate and post on pro-state Facebook groups to correct “wrong views”. Two key questions Mr Dien posed were: what are “wrong views”, and who gets to decide? He highlighted that since 1996, there has been a constant crackdown on anti-government content as they are deemed detrimental and harmful to the reputation of the country and its authority. Content allegedly being anti-government has been the most-cited official reason for online content being taken down. With regard to the content produced by cyber troops, Mr Dien concluded by sharing how it would be over-simplistic to dismiss some nationalist narratives as sheer propaganda, and he maintained that it remains to be seen if such narratives are widespread. It also remains to be seen the cyber troops’ attempts to spread propaganda are effective to other social media platforms.
Dr Janjira’s segment titled “Leveraging Information Chaos: How Thailand’s Institutionalised Information Operations Undermine Democracy”, examines the increasing sophistication as well as outsourcing of military cyber troop operations that target opponents and critics of the state. Thailand’s military establishment plays an important role in institutionalising information manipulation campaigns. Regime-backed cyber trooping, also known as Information Operations (IOs), works to counter anti-establishment forces. However, Dr Janjira pointed out that the effectiveness of IOs cannot be assessed only by the popular traction it gains but its symbiotic interactions with other actors who operate in a decentralised and non-institutional manner also need to be taken into consideration. Dr Janjira also shared that due to the expanding Thai digital space and increased social media penetration, military cyber trooping has expanded its operations. One way they have done so is by outsourcing them to private actors. Dr Janjira concluded by maintaining that the effectiveness of the IOs still remains to be seen. Nonetheless, Dr Janjira emphasised that their actions have to be evaluated within a broader environment, in particular, how different actors, especially non-state ones, work in tandem with the IOs.
Dr Clarissa Ai Ling Lee then shed light on “Malay Exceptionalism as Counter-Securitization Strategy in Malaysian Social Media”, showing how cyber troops decontextualise and reframe political situations as threats to Malay dominance. She explored the measures adopted by parties and cyber troops in advancing Malay nationalistic discourse. She explored many examples of cyber troops manipulating the rhetoric to accuse certain messages or leaders of attacking Malay exceptionalism. This includes labelling them as anti-Malay-bumiputra rights and/or anti-royalty. Dr Clarissa showed how Malay exceptionalism derives from the concept that everything in Malaysia, and by extension its politics, is anchored on the Malay-Muslim identity.
The Question and Answer segment saw questions about the speakers’ opinions towards the latest political developments and events in relation to their presentations. One question was asked about how COVID-19 has impacted cyber trooping in Vietnam. Another question was asked about how governments of the three countries discussed measure the effectiveness of their cyber troopers and if they should be wary of an “echo-chamber” effect.
The webinar had 93 unique viewers.