Picture courtesy of PBS

Media opinion polls ahead of Thailand’s February 8, 2026 general election have been thrown into doubt after evidence emerged that large numbers of responses were generated by bots, undermining the credibility of widely reported survey results. The revelations have prompted at least one broadcaster to cancel its poll results and raised concerns about attempts to manipulate public opinion during a critical pre-election period.

In the run-up to the election, national surveys conducted by media outlets and educational institutions have sought to forecast voting trends and preferred prime ministerial candidates. Reports have consistently suggested that Bhumjaithai, the People’s Party and Pheu Thai are the most favoured political groups, with their respective leaders leading popularity rankings. Among the most prominent were two rounds of polling jointly conducted by Matichon and Daily News, the results of which were widely circulated.

On January 26, Prap Boonpan, Deputy Managing Director for Digital Media and Technology at Matichon, disclosed in his column that unprecedented poll manipulation had been detected. He wrote that manipulation extended beyond organised participation by party supporters and involved “the use of bot technology… to repeatedly vote in polls on a massive scale, artificially inflating the scores of certain political parties.” According to Prap, only about 20–25% of respondents in both rounds of the 2025–26 ‘Matichon x Daily News’ survey were valid human participants, with the remainder identified as bots.

The first round of the survey, conducted in December, drew 93,391 respondents who answered questions on their preferred prime ministerial candidate and political party. The results showed Yodchanan Wongsawat of Pheu Thai leading at 39.2%, followed closely by Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut at 38.8%, while Sirikanya Tansakul of the People’s Party and Jatuporn Buruspat each received 3.2%. In party preference, the People’s Party ranked first with 45.1%, followed by the New Opportunity Party at 3.2% and Bhumjaithai at 3.1%.

A second survey earlier this month, involving 28,002 respondents, placed Natthaphong first, followed by Yodchanan, Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan and Anutin Charnvirakul. Separately, Top News Television cancelled the results of its second-round poll, conducted from January 13 to 23, after detecting coordinated voting linked to organised political groups. Its technology department reported irregularities caused by advanced bot systems using certain IP addresses, producing results that deviated significantly from actual public opinion.

ThaiPBS reported that the disclosures have cast doubt over the reliability of online election polls and highlighted the challenges media organisations face in safeguarding digital surveys. With the election imminent, outlets are expected to review polling methodologies and strengthen technical defences to prevent further manipulation and maintain public trust.

Key Takeaways

• Media election polls ahead of the February 8, 2026 vote were compromised by large-scale bot voting.

• Matichon revealed that only 20–25% of responses in its joint survey were genuine human participants.

• Top News Television cancelled its second-round poll after detecting coordinated, bot-driven voting.

  

Adapted by ASEAN Now from ThaiPBS 2026-01-28

 

 

Do polls influence voting? I don't think there's any way to guarantee no digital fiddling.