ABSTRACT

The Thai 2020 anti-government protests were the first large-scale pro-democracy protests in Thailand mediated on Twitter. How has Twitter been used by anti-government supporters and to what effect? This article examines the use of hashtags by activists during the early stages of the Thai 2020 anti-government protests. Using an original dataset of 27,233 Twitter data points drawn from the #FreeYouth (FYM; #เยาวชนปลดแอก) campaign, the article argues that Twitter was used primarily to build collective narratives and disseminate movement information, rather than to mobilize offline protest activities. The key topic conversations within the Free Youth networks focus on discontent towards the government and demands for democracy, suggesting that Twitter was central to mobilizing pro-democracy collective action frames. The article further argues that the Free Youth networks on Twitter were loosely connected through community clusters of weak ties, not tight crowds. The challenge for FYM activists going forward is to support ties across its online networks that will strengthen over time, or risk becoming an ephemeral network of convenience that can only be mobilized on an ad hoc basis.

摘要

2020年泰国反政府抗议活动是泰国在Twitter上进行的首次大规模大规模民主抗议。反政府支持者如何使用Twitter，效果如何？本文研究了活动家在2020年泰国反政府抗议活动的早期阶段对主题标签的使用。该文章使用了从#FreeYouth（FYM;＃เยาวชนปลดแอก）活动中获得的27,233个Twitter数据点的原始数据集，认为Twitter主要用于建立集体叙述和传播运动信息，而不是动员离线抗议活动。“自由青年”网络中的主要话题对话着重于对政府的不满和对民主的要求，这表明推特在动员支持民主的集体行动框架中至关重要。文章进一步指出，Twitter上的“免费青年”网络是通过关系薄弱而不是拥挤的社区集群松散连接的。FYM活动人士面临的挑战是如何支持其在线网络之间的联系，这种联系将随着时间的流逝而加强，否则可能会成为临时性的临时网络，只能临时动员。