Satirical memes mocking a Thai nationalist influencer embroiled in the Thai-Cambodian conflict and under scrutiny for opaque funding and ties to a power broker politician, have morphed into misinformation due to lack of media literacy.

Guntouch “Gun Jompalang” Pongpaiboonwet has found himself at the centre of a storm.

The former owner of the popular Jompalang Noodle chain was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. After selling his business, he turned his focus to online activism and quickly rose to prominence by helping people in distress. Using Facebook and TikTok, he regularly exposed injustices and assisted victims of child abuse, domestic drug use, assaults on university students, and alleged extortion within the LGBTQ community.

According to the Reuter Institute for the Study of Journalism, he is now the sixth most mentioned individual for news on social and video networks by survey respondents, surpassing even Pita Limjaroenrat, the “Almost Prime Minister” of Thailand.

When the Thai-Cambodian border dispute broke out, he embraced a nationalist stance and engaged in a series of extreme actions. He led a team to crack down on Cambodian beggars in Thailand, claiming they were earning illegal income near the border. At Ban  Nong Chan in Sa Kaeo province, the site of an alleged Cambodian incursion, he visited a bunker site and planted a Thai flag, declaring it as the land of Thailand. He also called for the deployment of sewage tankers along the border, a provocative response to the Cambodian removal of Thai barbed wire.

His methods did not go unnoticed. While livestreaming a border event featuring a speaker truck that spread ghost voices to discourage Cambodians, he drew sharp criticism from human rights defender Angkhana Neelapaijit. In response, Angkhana faced condemnation from his hardline supporters and nationalist sections of the public. She became the target of misinformation and even death threats after being accused of siding with Cambodia. Angkhana has since requested police protection.

By then, the tide was beginning to turn against Gun as questions arose about his tactics and the transparency of his charitable activities. Rukchanok Srinork, a People’s Party MP, pressured Gun Jompalang to use his personal connection with Deputy Prime Minister Thammanat Prompao to help combat scammers. Thammanat, a power broker previously convicted of drug trafficking in Australia, was identified by Thai journalists as a target of an investigation into money laundering in Cambodia by the Whale Hunting website.

In response, Thammanat threatened to weaponize Interpol’s Red Notice system against journalists, including Whale Hunting’s Tom Wright, despite the fact that the outlet had not mentioned his name until then. After Rangsiman Rome, a People’s Party MP, raised the issue in parliament, Thammanat denied the allegations and threatened the MP with legal action.

Reports show that Section 39 of the regulations of Gun Jompalang’s Foundation stipulates that if the Foundation is dissolved, all remaining assets would be transferred to the Thammanat Prompao Foundation. The Foundation said they would amend the section after having been found out.

An investigation published in April by Isra News also found that a company linked to Gun Jompalang secured government contracts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, then overseen by Narumon Pinyosinwat of the Kla Tham Party, whose advisor is Thammanat. Questions have been raised whether Gun Jompalang’s activism serves to shift public attention away from alleged scams and money laundering.

Gun claimed that he had been active in combating scammers and Rukchanok’s assertion cost him 600,000 baht as one of his online appearances was cancelled by a client. He said that he was simply a citizen and the attention should be diverted to the MPs instead. The issue he raised about money only adds fuel to the fire as Rukchanok replied with a long list of his requests for donations. Celebrities who made donations demanded transparency.

The Foundation held a press conference claiming to have received 200 million baht in donations and spent 110 million baht. Gun said all money collected for the Foundation is audited annually. He welcomed an investigation by the authorities, and he asked for privacy to return home to care for his daughter. A complaint has been made to the Anti-Money Laundering Office. Reports have surfaced about Gun Jompalang’s businesses.

Meanwhile, the authorities launched an investigation into his fundraising campaign to purchase equipment for frontline military units. As public criticism mounted over why the military needed donations despite its sizable budget, the armed forces maintained that they had never requested such support. Gun later showed evidence before a parliamentary committee, claiming that a government agency had sought his Foundation’s assistance to fund hard armour plates. In response, Royal Thai Army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree said the Army had adequate resources but would not turn away donations.

The role of memes

Amid these developments, social media users created innumerable memes mocking Gun Jompalang.

One widespread meme, the abbreviation “Yor Sor Tor Nor” (ยสตน.) took on a double meaning: originally a sexual reference, it was later circulated by some social media users in a misleading way, prompting others to use it under the impression that it expressed support for Gun Jompalang, as in “keep fighting along the same path” (ยืนยันสู้ตามแนวทางเดิม).

Other abbreviations followed a similar pattern. For instance, “Or Sor Kor Khor” (อสกข.) originally meant “freaking hilarious,” used to laugh at someone’s misfortune, but was reinterpreted as a slogan urging people to “come forward to fight the Cambodians” (ออกมาสู้กับเขมร).

Gun’s image with the abbreviation “Or Sor Kor Khor” (อสกข.) originally meaning “freaking hilarious,” used to laugh at someone’s misfortune, but reinterpreted as a slogan urging people to “come forward to fight the Cambodians” (ออกมาสู้กับเขมร).

Social media users also created other satirical posts, including false claims that famous footballers, Hollywood actors, and world leaders expressed support for Gun Jompalang. Some posts went further, falsely presenting adult-film actors as Japanese politicians, mathematics professors, or even human rights defenders.

A meme falsely identifying an image of a Japanese adult actor as a member of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party. It also wrongly asserts that he expressed support for Gun Jompalang and criticized Angkhana Neelapaijit using double entendres.

These forms of humour are not without power. Parody and satire challenges extreme ideologies and holds powerful figures accountable. They are a vital part of freedom of expression and of the press—rights that Thailand often prides itself on, in contrast to Cambodia. Yet these freedoms have come under constant pressure in Thailand, constrained by political prosecutions. And those convicted of royal defamation are likely to be excluded from political amnesties.

However, this type of humour is context-dependent and relies on an audience with sufficient media literacy. Without it, viewers may mistake satire for fact, allowing it to morph into misinformation. Some individuals, aware of this vulnerability, deliberately craft disinformation at others’ expense—either to deceive people for entertainment purposes or, more maliciously, to stoke nationalist sentiment. Although this form of humour has existed for more than 15 years, the rise of AI-generated content has amplified its impact, while governments continue to struggle to regulate the technology.

It is unclear how many are deceived into believing satirical posts as facts. Audiences are encouraged to type in abbreviations believing that they show support for Gun Jompalang but actually they only make fun of themselves. Some could pretend to be deceived by the posts just to bait others. But for many it only shows the extent of the problem.

A false claim circulating online alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a statement on the BBC praising Gun Jompalang as Thailand’s national hero. Thousands of people reacted to and shared the post, with and without verifying its authenticity.

Rukchanok unpacked one satirical post after another during a social media appearance, warning that those who fall into satirical traps could just as easily fall for online scams—ironically, an industry recently under the spotlight for its links to Cambodia and for swindling enormous amounts of money from people’s pockets. She urged families to look out for their loved ones to prevent them from becoming victims.

While media literacy in Thailand is generally “very good” according to a 2025 report by Mahidol University, children and the elderly are more susceptible to misinformation than others. Children are also more vulnerable to cyberbullying than the global average.

According to a 2023 study based on the “Stop, Think, Ask, Act” model, “Thai seniors exhibit moderate media literacy behaviour overall.” However, many instances of not-stop behaviour, defined as not “pausing and being mindful when being stimulated by media” and not “assessing one’s own desires and emotions before making any decisions”, pose a significant risk. And “older Thai adults remain at risk of falling victim to media scams.”

A March 2025 report on media consumption and disinformation in Thailand by Surachanee Sriyai and Akkaranai Kwanyou said that individuals who perceive traditional media as having more influence on their votes are more likely to share fake news than those who perceive online media as more influential.

Different demographics also consume media differently. The reported noted that while “there is no statistically significant link between how individuals believe the veracity of fake news and the type of media they perceive as more influential,” those in their late 30s to 40s are more likely to consume information from social media and messaging apps, while older groups tend to rely on traditional media outlets.

It does not help that “in Thailand, determining what news is true or fake appears to be a political matter”. “Political misuse of regulatory measures not only feeds censorship and autocratic propensities, but also reinforces public mistrust in official mechanisms to curb disinformation,” wrote political science scholar Janjira Sombatpoonsiri in 2022.

Universities are working hard to boost the population’s immunity by research and offering a curriculum for primary school teachers. Media organizations, including Cofact, are working hard to fact check information. However, the withdrawal of USAID funding for various nonprofit organisations, including media outlets, does not help the situation. With tariffs, the war in Ukraine, and the US withdrawal from the rest of the world, western nations are also likely to follow suit as they rearrange their priorities.

The struggle with media literacy in Thailand also means that free speech is at risk. When satire, humour, and parody are misread as fact and morph into misinformation, they are more likely to be targeted by governments pursuing an anti-fake-news agenda. As a result, democracy could be jeopardized. There is a saying that in war, truth is the first casualty. In Thailand, truth seems to die in the hills of a thousand memes.