Clip of Thai PM speech on scam centres manipulated to add fake subtitles
"Thai female PM gives speech on Myawaddy scam compound: all Chinese in northern Myanmar will be rescued immediately at China's command!" read a simplified Chinese post on X on January 11, 2025.
It has since racked up more than one million views and included a clip of Paetongtarn speaking but with her voice muffled by background music.
Chinese subtitles overlaid to the clip read: "It is our duty to rescue our Chinese compatriots. I am also of Chinese descent and come from Guangdong. Through rescuing Wang Xing, I have learned that many of my compatriots are being controlled and abused by the Myawaddy cyber-fraud group."
"Nowadays, China is so powerful, once China gives the order, the Thai army, navy and air force will cooperate fully to bring our compatriots home," the subtitles went on to say.
Nearly seven million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2024 but high-profile kidnappings on the Thai-Myanmar border have sent a chill through the market at a peak period, with a reported 10,000 trips cancelled during the Lunar New Year holidays in January (archived link).
On January 22, the government took the highly unusual step of publishing an AI-generated video of Paetongtarn insisting -- in Mandarin, a language she does not speak -- that the kingdom was safe for Chinese tourists (archived link).
"I understand that recent reports of Chinese nationals being lured to scam compounds around Thailand's borders have triggered concerns among Chinese tourists ... Thailand's government puts the safety of all tourists as its utmost priority," the AI Paetongtarn says.
In an effort to stamp out the compounds, Thailand cut cross-border electricity supplies to five locations in Myanmar on February 5 (archived link).
Beijing has grown increasingly concerned about the centres as many of those involved -- both victims and perpetrators -- are Chinese.
The scam centres are likely to be on the agenda during Paetongtarn's official trip to Beijing for talks with President Xi Jinping.
But the video with her purported remarks about deploying the Thai military to Myanmar -- also shared on X, Facebook and Gettr -- has been manipulated to add fabricated subtitles.
A reverse image search of keyframes on Google found the footage showing Paetongtarn's speech published on the official YouTube channel of Thai television channel PPTV on January 7, 2025 (archived link).
The circulating clip matches the scene between the 0:39 and 0:59 mark of the video from PPTV.
The video was uploaded after Wang was rescued from a scam compound in Myanmar and Paetongtarn said he would be sent back to the kingdom.
A Thai-speaking AFP journalist watched the clip and translated Paetongtarn's remarks as: "[Wang Xing] was sent from Mae Sot, Tak province. Officers of the Metropolitan Police Division Six are waiting for him. We've already found him."
"We must spread the word carefully so as not to affect Thailand's tourism because there was an incident that happened and rumours on social media that Thailand is dangerous. So we're trying our best to prevent this."
"The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society must also help monitor rumours and false information. We're emphasising this because we don't want Thai tourism getting affected."
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