Flood fact-checkers bail out PM

The Anti-Fake News Centre has come to the rescue of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, saying social media posts that northern floodwater did not flow into the Mekong River were “fake news”.
It was responding to a tempest in a social media teapot over remarks made by Ms Paetongtarn on Tuesday about the flooding situation in Northern Thailand.
Centre officials said on Friday that they had checked the facts with the Office of the National Water Resources. While floodwater in Chiang Rai ultimately goes into the Mekong, floodwater in Chiang Mai will flow into the Ping River and the Bhumibol Dam in Tak province.
“Fake news: Northern floodwater did not flow into the Mekong River but into the Chao Phraya River, leaving the central region and Bangkok flooded,” read the headline the centre put out.
The centre was set up under the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to counter all fake news, from politics to other issues.
The latest flap started after a surprising statement made by the prime minister.
Ms Paetongtarn raised eyebrows when she said floodwater in Chiang Mai would flow to the Bhumibol Dam and the Mekong. She did not mention the river by name but it was clear she was referring to the Ping, which overflowed and inundated Chiang Mai, during a briefing at Government House on Tuesday.
“Floodwater from Chiang Mai will flow to Lamphun and Lampang. But there would be no major flooding because the floodwater will move on to the Bhumibol dam and the Mekong River, too,” she said.
That was enough to send the online nitpickers racing to their keyboards, as the Ping is a tributary of the Chao Phraya River, not the Mekong.
Voice TV, meanwhile, on Thursday countered doubters by offering a detailed explanation in defence of the prime minister.
The media outlet founded by Ms Paetongtarn’s brother turned to Chuchoke Aryupong, a civil engineering lecturer at Chiang Mai University, for an explanation.
The online broadcaster said floodwater in Chai Prakarn, Mae Ai and Fang districts in Chiang Mai flowed into the Kok River in Chiang Rai and onward to the Mekong in Chiang Saen district. Water from districts downstream of the Ping ended up at the Bhumibol dam in Tak.
“The remark [made by the prime minister] intended to present an overview that may have caused miscommunication,” it added in a post on its X account.