Thailand

Thailand’s Deep South: Bridging the Opportunity Gap

Thailand has been firmly established in the digital world. More than 50 million people from all walk of life have access to the internet, in a country with a population of just about 70 million people. However, this also means that a vast majority of Thais is being exposed to various cybersecurity risks. According to Thai government, up to 70 million baht a day is lost to online scammers in the past two years.

The situation becomes more urgent in the Deep South of Thailand. The region, consisting of the three provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and some parts of Song Khla, has long been plagued with conflict and violence. It is one of the poorest regions in Thailand. These factors negatively affect education in the region and thus youth in the Deep South are often left behind. As a result, although people in the area are equally exposed to the internet, there are rarely any training or education on essential digital knowledge in the region.

To fill the gap between the Deep South and the rest of the country, a Narathiwat native Puangchomphu Rammuang led a group of activists and digital experts to the Deep South with an aim to increase knowledge and protection against cyber threats among people in the region. “People in the city can easily access knowledge and opportunities, while there are none for people in the countryside”, Phuangchomphu says. “What is lacking here is opportunities.”

Puangchomphu believes that the main concerns of people in the area have always been centered on the ongoing unrest. “It’s hard for people to think about other things when their lives are surrounded by violence.” This inspired her to have a project to provide on-the-spot trainings.

Experienced in digital and cybersecurity training, Puangchomphu and the team organized a series of training sessions, both online and on site, in the three provinces of Thailand’s Deep South spanning for two months from December 2024 to January 2025, with the support of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and other organizations. Titled Empowering Youths in Deep South Provinces with Digital Literacy and Cybersecurity Training, the contents of the trainings ranged from how to protect against cyber threats to exploring digital career paths. Targeting the youth in the Deep South, the team aimed to spread information through young people. Participants even travelled from different districts just to attend the workshops.

“My mother lost over 10,000 THB to scams,” one participant shared. “I learned a lot from the training and I will tell my mother how to protect ourselves from threats from now on.”

Boosting all rounded literacy

In addition to digital knowledge, training on media literacy was also included in the workshop. FNF Thailand brought our “Media Literacy Card Game” as part of the workshop to help increase media literacy among youth in the Deep South and combat disinformation both online and offline. The game encourages participants to analyze media in the format of board game.

As most information can be accessed online, it is crucial to recognize harmful content as well. “In this training, they can learn how to detect fake news and cyber threats at the same time”, Dr. Pimrapaat Dusadeeisariyakul, FNF Thailand Project Manager, says. “Media literacy is an important part of consuming media online.”

Participants who have played the game expressed that the game had allowed them to analyze the production of media and its objectives. “It is especially fun when there are people willing to exchange ideas and analyze scenarios together.” Some groups say they will bring back the game to their schools to continue their discussions on media.

Cybersecurity and Media literacy are pressing issues worldwide, especially now that the world is seamlessly connected online and disinformation is easily accessible. As Thailand becomes further integrated into the World Wide Web, people should be equipped with tools to protect themselves, and empowered to benefit from digital trends, regardless of where they live in.

*Takdanai Ketkaew is working as Communication Officer and Project Assistant at FNF Thailand.