Misrepresented video of Burmese workers protest fans anti-migrant sentiment in Thailand

"Burmese demand wage increase to 700 Thai baht," reads overlaid Thai-language text on a Facebook clip viewed more than 1.3 million times since it was posted on January 31, 2025.

Its caption points out that the minimum wage in Thailand is around 350 baht ($10) a day, and repeats that "Myanmar workers want 700" (archived link).

In the clip, which shows a large crowd gathered around a building, a man who appears to be the protest leader can be heard saying in Burmese: "We have been waiting the whole day and are tired."

"As we get our proposal, night shift workers, go to work, and day shift workers, go back and rest. Okay? Thank you so much everyone."

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on February 3, 2025

The same clip was also shared on X and TikTok.

"The Burmese are going to take over Thailand," read a comment on one of the posts, while another said: "If you don't want 350 baht, then get out."

It was shared as Thailand experienced what the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM) called a "surge in anti-migrant sentiment and hate speech targeted towards Myanmar nationals" (archived link).

This surge is "primarily fueled by misinformation and disinformation spread through social media," the IOM said.

According to the UN organisation, Thailand hosts about 2.3 million registered workers from Myanmar as well as another 1.8 million unregistered Burmese workers (archived link).

Many were driven from their homes by the military coup that toppled Myanmar's democratically elected government in February 2021 and have been forced into difficult and dirty jobs in Thailand's construction, food, and agriculture sectors (archived link).

The video posted online, however, does not show migrant Burmese workers demanding to be paid double Thailand's minimum wage.

Protest over workers' fees

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage shared on TikTok on December 16, 2024 (archived link).

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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the TikTok video from December 2024 (right)

The TikTok user who shared the footage told AFP they had filmed the video during a protest at a poultry factory in Phetchabun province.

"I have no idea about the 700 baht wage increase. We never asked for that," they said on February 5, 2025.

Separate keyword searches led to a similar video published in a local media report from December 17, 2024 about a dispute between Burmese workers and a Thai company over high work permit and visa renewal fees in Phetchabun province (archived link).

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Screenshot comparison of the original video (left) and the video published by MGROnline (right), with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP

According to the report, the protest ended peacefully after the fees -- covering work permit and visa renewal -- were dropped from 11,500 baht to 6,000 baht.

As of February 6, there have been no official reports of Burmese migrant workers protesting for a daily minimum wage of 700 baht in Thailand

Migrant workers groups that AFP spoke to when debunking a similar false claim also said there were "no reports" of a movement to raise Thailand's minimum wage to this level.