Online Content Manipulation & Restrictions
Government Requests to Remove
or Restrict Content or Accounts
Internet Users
The extent of government content removal or
Social Media Users
restriction requests to tech companies remains
opaque, as the implementation is based on informal
68,0%
67,5%
communications between government officials and
67,0%
service providers.109 From 2020 to2023, Meta reported
66,5%
no restriction or removal in Cambodia.110 On June
29, 2023, Meta’s Oversight Board recommended the
66,0%
67,5%
65,5%
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account to be
65,0%
blocked for six months for incitement to violence
64,5%
65%
64,0%
63,5%
Prevalence
Total Population
11,37 million
10,95 million
22.16 million
DataReportal, Digital 2023, Cambodia, (9 february 2023), available at :
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-cambodia
Fig. 1.5A: Percentage of Internet and Social Media Users
in Cambodia, 2023.
after sharing a video.111 However, Hun Sen deleted
his account shortly after the decision arrived and, in
a typical authoritarian attempt to tighten control over
the online environment, the Cambodian government
declared 22 members of Meta’s Oversight Board
persona non grata and banned them from entering
the country.112 Similarly, TikTok reported no requests
since 2019 when the platform started publishing
transparency reports.113 Meta and Tik Tok have not
The RGC employs many methods and tactics to
yet released their data for the period from July to
limit online speech, including indirect content
December 2023.114 As for Google, seven requests
manipulation. Such is carried out with the assistance
have been made, one in 2020 and 6 in 2023.115
of a coordinated network of cyber troops that has
According to data from the Surfshark website,
been known to exist since 2020. This network is
Cambodia has had a total of 16 account requests
designed to amplify pro-government propaganda,
from Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft between
attack political opposition and spread disinformation
2013 and 2021.116
on social media on behalf of government entities,
lawmakers, political parties and–in some cases–
citizens and influencers.106
Moreover, in the larger scheme of Cambodia’s control
over online speech, websites that disseminate content
that could be perceived as a threat to the government
are subject to blocking, as a government’s tool to shield
itself from criticism. From January to June 2022, 43
websites were blocked.107 Additionally, 123 gambling
websites were blocked by the Telecommunication
Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) in January 2022.108
Cambodia
57