Thailand
Social media is widely used for news in Thailand and combined with low data costs this has encouraged heavy use of networks such as Facebook, YouTube, and LINE – including live streaming of both television and digital-born shows. This has encouraged a wide range of political and lifestyle creators, some of whom have built very large followings. Infotainment often overshadows public interest reporting in Thailand, and online streaming shows tend to lean into tabloid formats, often mixing politics with comedy. Political constraints still impact press freedom in Thailand where lèse-majesté laws impose harsh penalties for perceived royal disrespect, deterring investigative reporting and reinforcing state narratives. To some extent social media and the work of creators have extended the boundaries of debate, though new cyber laws are having an impact.
Kanchai Kamnerdploy (widely known as Num Kanchai), a former actor turned presenter, is the most frequently mentioned individual by respondents. His daily talk show Hone Krasae is characterised by tabloid-style interviews on controversial social issues, often featuring direct confrontations between opposing sides. While broadcast on television, the programme is regularly extended and amplified through Facebook and YouTube channels, where longer formats and looser restrictions allow for even more high-octane discussions.
Sorayuth Suthassanachinda remains one of Thailand’s most prominent news anchors, best known for presenting Morning News on Channel 3. By contrast, more analytical journalists such as Suthichai Yoon, a veteran commentator and founder of Nation Multimedia Group, and Jomquan Laopetch, noted for her probing interview style, attract strong followings among Bangkok’s educated audiences. Meanwhile, personalities such as Sondhi Limthongkul (a former media mogul, protest leader, and founder of the Manager Media Group) illustrate how journalism, activism, and politics frequently overlap in Thailand. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has pressed for tighter regulation of online platforms, but distribution power largely lies with foreign-owned companies such as Meta and Google, limiting effective oversight.
Influential TikTokkers include Anuwat Noom (5m followers) and Phakkawat Rattanasiriampai (Pond on News), who has built an audience of more than 3m followers for his concise and accessible takes on the news. Use of TikTok for news is among the highest in the world according to our Digital News Report survey, with comedy, memes, and interactive explainers particularly popular with the young. Dr Lab Panda is a medical doctor who became widely known at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic for debunking health myths through his popular Facebook channel.
Kan Jompalang (real name Khan Thitipong) is a celebrity influencer and citizen journalist. After first going viral with a novelty ‘giant-bowl noodle’ business he has reinvented himself as an online activist who champions people in distress. Kan regularly uses Facebook and TikTok to highlight social injustices and help individuals. He has campaigned over incidents ranging from child abuse and domestic drug use to assaults on university students and allegations of extortion within the LGBTQ community – and a range of other stories that he thinks have been overlooked by the mainstream media.
An example of Thailand’s strong infotainment news culture can be found with ‘Moddam’ Kachapa Tancharoen, who co-hosts a popular news-talk show Khao Sai Kai (News with Egg). The programme is a mix of news, current events, entertainment commentary, and opinion, and Moddam is known for his outspoken, often humorous take on issues, which has brought him millions of followers on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.
Proportion that regularly pay attention to creators/influencers in social and video networks
43%
(4/24)
Proportion that regularly pay attention to news brands/journalists in social and video networks
26%
(13/24)
Gender balance
14
of the top 15 are men
These lists represent the individuals most mentioned by respondents to our 2025 and 2024 Digital News Report surveys in the context of news and social media and video networks. Respondents who used Facebook, YouTube, X, Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok for news were asked where they paid most attention – including options for traditional news media/journalists, digital-first news outlets not associated with traditional media, creators/personalities who mostly focus on the news, creators/personalities who occasionally focus on the news. For each type, we asked respondents to name up to three examples of who they paid attention to. We then counted the individuals mostly using a tool called OpenRefine to help us use a semi-automated approach to clean the data (e.g. resolve misspellings or alternative names, remove duplicates etc.). In parallel, we also used ChatGPT5 to process and recode the original data, and to identify the most mentioned individuals to give us a way of comparing results. Further details on the tools we used and on small differences in methodology between 2024 and 2025 are provided in our methodology section (link).
Why did you use open fields rather than closed lists to collect the data?
We used open text response boxes, first, because in many countries the most popular news creators and influencers have not yet been identified by previous research. Second, because it would likely not be possible to fully capture the broad and fragmented nature of this ecosystem using a fixed listed of response options. And third, because we wanted to adopt an audience-centric approach whereby respondents could enter names that they considered news sources to them, even if they did not meet accepted standards or definitions within academia or the journalistic profession. This means that many of the names we list here would perhaps have been excluded under a more top-down approach.
How definitive is the order of the named individuals in each country?
In some cases, especially near the bottom the list, differences in the number of mentions for individuals are very small. Given our survey methodology, and the associated margin of error, the precise rank order should be read as indicative rather than definitive. Many other individuals were mentioned by respondents in the context of news, even if they do not make the top 15 using our approach. The lists should therefore be seen as indicative of some of the top news individuals in each country.
Why are some popular individuals with high follower counts lower down the list than individuals with high follower counts?
There are a number of possible reasons for this. First, some popular creators such as musicians and comedians are known more for entertainment than for news and their follower counts are often higher as a result. This means that even if they do occasionally talk about news related issues, not all of their followers will be aware of it. Second, some individuals working for traditional media may have relatively low personal followings but are widely distributed via social accounts of news brands. Third, there is a margin of error in surveys such as this (see previous answer) that needs to be borne in mind.
Did you exclude any individuals or other entries as part of the process?
Our lists are inclusive in terms of being faithful to the individual names mentioned by respondents. We removed just a handful of actors, sports stars, and celebrities if we were sure they did not post on any news-related issues. In most cases this did not affect the top 15 names that are published in this report for each country.
Many creators operate as part of collectives or use pseudonyms. How did you deal with these categorisation issues?
In terms of creator collectives or social-first brands, such as the Daily Wire (US) or TLDR News (UK) we followed the lead of our respondents. Where audiences have identified them as individuals, we have tended to categorise these as creators rather than news brands, but where they have mentioned a brand, we included them in our list of news brands. Where it was clear, however, that the brand is the work of one individual (e.g. Es.decirdiario/Sheila Hernández in Spain) we categorised them as an individual and made the connection clear in the description. Many creators use pseudonyms and, in these cases, we combined mentions of these with the real names. Again, we tried to make the connection clear in the description.
How did you deal with politicians and the overlap between politicians and political commentary?
Politicians and businesspeople are also frequently mentioned by survey respondents in the context of news sources on social media, and often have significant followings (e.g. on X, Donald Trump has 109m, Narendra Modi 109m, and Elon Musk 225m). Many politicians are also content creators and commentators who shape public debates. Some content creators have become politicians, and vice versa. We chose to include politicians if they were named by respondents in the context of news, but we have also shaded serving (or recently serving) politicians in grey to make clear the different relationship they often have with news consumers.