Greater online surveillance in Cambodia has taken a new turn as strongman leader Hun Sen endorses a homegrown messaging app, CoolApp. Critics argue that this move is a strategic ploy for government monitoring and undermining political discourse within the country.
National Security or Surveillance?
CoolApp, which was launched this month to rival global giants like WhatsApp and Telegram, aims to make it “difficult for foreigners to interfere with our information,” according to a post by Hun Sen on his official Facebook page. The former prime minister emphasized the app's role in safeguarding “national security.”
“It is the first-ever Cambodian program and used within the Cambodian security domain,” Hun Sen wrote. “Other countries have their own social media means of communication like China’s WeChat, Vietnam’s Zalo, South Korea’s Kakao Talk, and Russia’s Telegram, so in Cambodia, we have … our own product,” he added.
Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, has ruled Cambodia with an iron fist for more than three decades. Although his eldest son, Hun Manet, succeeded him as prime minister last year, Hun Sen remains the ruling party’s center of power.
Internet Freedom Under Threat
Internet freedom in Cambodia has experienced a drastic regression under Hun Sen’s rule, according to rights groups. Censorship, media blackouts, and online harassment are rampant. Activists have noted increased state surveillance, leading to the arrest and persecution of government critics over the years, as well as the shutdown of independent media outlets and websites.
A prolific social media user who once famously denied buying likes for his Facebook page, Hun Sen has even considered banning the site due to online abuse from political opponents abroad. In 2023, a quasi-independent oversight board for Facebook’s parent company Meta (META) recommended that Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months for using language that could incite violence.
Opposition Voices
Mu Sochua, an opposition leader living in exile overseas, warned Cambodians not to be fooled by Hun Sen’s promotion of CoolApp. “I see it as nothing but another violent assault on civil liberties in Cambodia,” she said, calling the app a “Chinese-style mechanism for the control of public discourse and mass surveillance.”
Hun Sen and the Cambodian government have close ties with China’s ruling Communist Party, which oversees a massive surveillance network. “Already civil servants are ordered to download CoolApp,” Mu Sochua said. “Who dares to oppose the order?”
Another exiled Cambodian opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, echoed calls to boycott CoolApp, claiming the app would “strengthen repressive tools at the disposal of the regime.”
“This is ironic coming from a leader who has a long history and track record of secretly listening in to private opposition discussions,” Sam Rainsy said, noting previous instances of Hun Sen controlling social media discourse.
CNN has reached out to Hun Sen’s office for comment but has yet to receive a response.