Mitigating Electoral Risks Through Dialogue: Key Insights from HD’s Innovative Social Media Annex in Thailand 

On March 29, 2023, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) brokered a historic Social Media Annex to the Thai Elections Code of Conduct ahead of the general elections in May 2023 – representing a landmark achievement in HD’s social media dialogue work. As we looked back on this initiative in a recent programme review, it stands out as a compelling example of how social media dialogue and mediation can effectively address and mitigate digital risks during sensitive periods in deeply polarised political contexts.  

A Landmark Social Media Commitment 

Ahead of the general elections, representatives from 30 major national political parties signed the Code of Conduct (CoC), committing their candidates and party leaders to use social media responsibly during the election campaign. The CoC committed signatories to refrain from harmful online behaviours such as spreading disinformation, conducting harmful influence operations, posting content that involved identity-based discrimination, inciting violence, or doxing opponents (full text available here). These provisions addressed critical risks identified through a series of consultative dialogues, during which all stakeholders recognised that social media was being weaponised to distort the information environment and manipulate public opinion for political gain in Thailand.   

Leveraging trust built with key Thai stakeholders throughout over a decade, HD secured a broad coalition of signatories. Importantly, every major party across the political spectrum actively participated in the consultations, and contributed to drafting and finalising the agreement language. The Election Commission of Thailand presided over the signing ceremony, further reinforcing its legitimacy. Representatives from the diplomatic corps, religious leaders, a range of civil society groups, social media platforms and members of the press witnessed the signing, symbolising a collective commitment to ensure election integrity.  

Key Innovations of the Social Media Annex 

The Annex on Responsible Use of Social Media of the Code of Conduct for the 2023 General Election Campaign marked an  innovation in HD’s work to mitigate social media risks in politically sensitive moments such as elections and peace processes in deeply divided political settings. A few highlights include:   

— The language and substance of the Social Media Annex. The Annex marked HD’s most well-defined social media agreement to date, outlining eight contextualised online behaviours that can cause real-world harm. It is also the first time that social media harms on electoral processes were acknowledged and addressed by political parties and the government at a national level in Thailand.   

— The integration of digital issues within a broader agreement. HD tabled the text as an Annex to the existing Elections Code of Conduct, which helped socialise the standards more effectively. Connecting social media issues to a broader political process offered greater political legitimacy and sustainability than a standalone social media agreement – an innovation that may resonate in other contexts.   

— The monitoring framework. Following the signing of the agreement, HD incubated a multidisciplinary monitoring mechanism, known as DEAL (Digital Election Analytical Lab), to oversee compliance of the Agreement. DEAL employed a mix of manual and automated methods to monitor and analyse more than 65,000+ accounts and over 5.56 million social media posts, making it HD’s most sophisticated monitoring to date and in Thailand more broadly. Crucially, the monitoring framework included both official accounts and their unofficial proxy accounts/networks known to play an important role in influencing the information environment.   

Key Social Media Findings 

Some of the key findings in DEAL’s final report include: 

— The heavy use of proxy accounts. Major political parties relied heavily on unofficial or proxy social media accounts within their informal networks and online canvassers to shape public opinion. By relying on these proxy accounts rather than their official accounts to disseminate disinformation and conduct information operations – a tactic increasingly observed in Thailand and globally – political parties avoided direct accountability. This trend highlights the importance of expanding social media dialogue and monitoring efforts to include non-traditional actors, and demonstrates the utility of the manual-automated monitoring methodology HD incubated in Thailand.   

— Post-election disinformation. Disinformation intensified in the post-election period, exploiting the power vacuum that characterized the political transition. These campaigns were strategically deployed to fuel legal challenges against political opponents, amplifying divisions and prolonging political instability. This dynamic highlighted the role of social media in perpetuating political conflict after elections. 

— The distortion of public perceptions. Information operations involved the use of coordinated inauthentic behaviour and cross-platform strategies to flood the Internet with artificially boosted content, making certain narratives appear more popular and credible. These tactics also sought to undermine the credibility of political opponents, distorting the online information space and public perceptions. 

— The use of human-like accounts. Profiles designed to mimic human behaviours and personalities were widely used in Thailand’s information space. These accounts enhanced the credibility and reach of disinformation campaigns while evading detection by platform algorithms – a tactic increasingly being adopted worldwide. 

— The exploitation of social media platform loopholes. Harmful content was often framed using ambiguous terms, coded languages, netizen slang, and the intentional use of typos, seemingly allowing such content to bypass automated moderation systems. In addition, global moderation policies overlooked the nuances of Thailan’s socio-political context, allowing such content to persist and lead to inconsistent enforcement of community guidelines. 

The full report can be found in English here and in Thai here. 

Impact of the Social Media Annex in Thailand 

The Annex on the Responsible Use of Social Media during the 2023 General Election resulted in a number of key achievements: 

— Enhanced political accountability: The Annex established an unprecedented commitment by political parties and candidates to responsible online behaviour, creating a framework to hold them accountable for misconduct. By prohibiting disinformation, harmful influence operations, and incitement to violence, it served as both a deterrent and a benchmark for acceptable online conduct. Monitoring findings suggest that this helped reduce the misuse of social media and divisive tactics during a critical political periods.   

— Proactive reduction of online harms. Independent research suggests that by pre-emptively addressing harmful digital behaviours, the Annex reduced the intensity of disinformation campaigns and influence operations during the elections. This helped reduce the risk of digital platforms being used to deepen divisions and erode trust in democratic processes. 

— Innovation in norm-setting and election monitoring: The Social Media Annex and the DEAL monitoring framework built the capacity of election observer groups to track harmful digital behaviors and manipulation of the online ecosystem. These methodologies have since inspired regional practices and equipped mediators and peacebuilders with new approaches and tools to address similar challenges in other contexts including the Maldives’ 2023 presidential election and Indonesia’s 2024 general elections 

— Increased awareness and accountability among social media platforms: The Responsible Use of Social Media Annex highlighted the limitations of existing global moderation policies and the need for platforms to adapt their systems to local contexts. This led to increased awareness among tech companies about the loopholes being exploited in Thailand, encouraging more effective enforcement of platform community guidelines at the local level and context-specific content moderation strategies  

Influence of the Social Media Annex in Thailand and Beyond 

The Social Media Annex and its robust monitoring methodology continues to influence HD’s social media dialogue approach, as well as the thinking around social media monitoring more broadly. In 2024, HD convened a tabletop exercise with mediators, ceasefire practitioners, and digital peacebuilding experts in collaboration with Build Up and the UN DPPA Mediation Support Unit to think strategically about how to monitor and implement social media provisions in ceasefire arrangements. HD’s experience in Thailand was cited as a compelling example and informed the resulting guidance document on monitoring social media provisions in ceasefire arrangements, co-published by Build Up, HD, and UN DPPA. The guidance document can be found here.   

HD Thailand’s monitoring methodology, datasets, and findings have directly or indirectly contributed to or informed several Thai and international research initiatives, deepening the understanding of researchers, policymakers, and the broader public around information operations and the role of social media platforms in elections. These include studies and research initiatives conducted by Thai academics and civil society organisations, with the financial support of UNDP, the Asia Foundation, the University of Leiden, and Internews.  

The Social Media Annex facilitated by HD in Thailand demonstrates how mediation practice can adapt to the growing complexities and challenges of the digital age. By addressing the digital dimensions of conflict, this initiative complements and aligns with HD’s broader conflict mediation efforts in Thailand aimed at building political consensus, supporting a peaceful nonviolent political transition, and fostering national reconciliation.