Thai network outage caused by power failure, not geomagnetic storm

Thai telecom company True Corp says a network outage that disrupted mobile and internet services to millions of subscribers on May 22, 2025 was caused by a power failure, contrary to posts claiming a solar storm was to blame. An astrophysicist told AFP there was no solar activity strong enough to knock out services on that day, and a solar storm would affect the planet's entire magnetic field rather than Thailand alone.

"The internet service from True is down today. I haven't been able to make calls or use the internet since noon," reads the Thai-language caption of a TikTok video shared on May 22, 2025.

The video, a news segment from Thai broadcaster TNN, is overlaid with text saying, "NASA warns to prepare for solar storms. Global internet blackout for one month. Extreme surveillance period hits the world in 2025".

It circulated as Thai telecoms provider True Corp's mobile and internet services were disrupted, which the Bangkok Post said affected millions of subscribers across the country (archived here and here).

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Screenshot of the misleading TikTok post, taken May 30, 2025

The same video was shared in similar posts elsewhere on TikTok and Facebook.

But True later explained the network outage was "caused by a power system failure at a Core Network center" (archived link). True's statement makes no mention of the outage being caused by a solar storm.

An astrophysicist at the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) also told AFP there was no link between the outage and solar activity.

Potential impact not localised

A keyword search on TNN's social media found the video used in the false posts was posted on the broadcaster's YouTube channel on July 6, 2023 (archived link).

The segment highlights concerns that solar activity, expected to peak in the year 2025, could disrupt satellites and infrastructure such as the internet. It does not make any prediction about when a specific blackout event will occur.

According to NASA, a solar storm could disturb the Earth's magnetic field and disrupt technological infrastructure. The geomagnetic storms could interfere with high-frequency radio communications, damage satellites, and even trigger power grid failures (archived link).

Matipon Tangmatitham, an astrophysicist at NARIT, citing data from online monitoring platform SpaceWeatherLive.com, told AFP there had been "no notable solar activity or geomagnetic storm" strong enough to cause disruptions on May 22 (archived link).

Matipon added the outage on May 22 could not have been the result of a solar storm because such a phenomenon would affect the planet's entire magnetic field rather than a specific region.

The Thai government-run Anti-Fake News Center also refuted the claim on May 27 (archived link).

"The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) informed that space conditions during this period are in normal condition. There was no solar storm," the statement said.

"Therefore, the communication system that was down recently is not related to the solar storm in any way."