Poverty, Pirated Content. Internet Safety

Youth Behavior Research & Campaign Strategy

Cambodia

Internews and Sour Mouy Youth Organization

PARTNER / CLIENT

Internews | Sour Mouy Youth Organization

The Challenge

In Cambodia, internet access is cheap, mobile-first, and widespread—with over 128% mobile connectivity. For rural youth, this means hours spent online each day—mostly on Facebook—without the critical literacy to safely navigate harmful or manipulative content.

Despite seeing themselves as digital natives, many youth—especially those with lower education or income—consume unsafe content that exploits their vulnerabilities.

Almost 100% of the media they engage with is designed to manipulate through tactics like ‘Like Farming’, where emotionally charged posts lure users into sharing scams, malware, or black-market links.

Internews aimed to understand this behavior more deeply and design strategies to promote safer, more responsible internet use.

Our Approach

The study, titled "Poverty | Pirated Content | Internet Safety: How can Rural Youth in Cambodia participate safely and responsibly online", used a human-centered research approach to explore emotional and behavioral drivers behind digital risk.

Sidekick in collaboration with Binus University, Indonesia, trained and supported a local youth research team across three vulnerable provinces—Battambang, Kampong Speu, and Ratanakiri—and one urban comparison group in Phnom Penh. The team used tools like:

Daily digital media diaries
Empathy mapping ("Do & Say", "Think & Feel", "Hear", "See", "Pain", "Gain")
Interviews and group discussions to uncover unmet needs, motivations, and emotional triggers

Fieldwork was impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and required additional mentoring due to limited prior experience with human-centered research.

Insights

Pirated content filled emotional gaps, especially for rural youth experiencing loneliness, family pressure, or social stigma. Popular formats included:

Photo Stories: Low-bandwidth slideshows combining images, pirated music, and emotional captions linked to scams or betting sites
OPVs: Illegally edited music videos targeting emotional pain points
Clips from Thai dramas and comedies tied to fake news and malware

Youth behavior varied by group:

Low-income rural youth consumed mostly pirated content and were highly vulnerable to scams
Rural youth with high school education used content for self-improvement
Urban youth had higher digital literacy, better internet, and little exposure to pirated material

Private messaging and gaming platforms like Messenger and Free Fire also carried risks, from sextortion to manipulation

Emotional factors like rejection, loneliness, overbearing family relationships, and pressure to earn money pushed youth toward risky digital behaviors

Family was both a key influence and a source of emotional strain, making the internet feel like the only safe space for many

Sidekick’s Role

Trained and mentored Cambodian youth researchers
Co-developed tools and supported data collection
Led data synthesis and insight analysis
Advised on strategy and campaign framing

Impact

Generated a deep, localized understanding of rural youth digital behavior
Developed a campaign strategy rooted in positive deviance, emotional resonance, and behavior change
Informed creative messaging that was empathetic, relatable, and low-bandwidth
Supported community-based implementation through Sour Mouy and local influencers
The Sour Mouy youth organization would lead the rollout of the communication strategy—turning insights into on-the-ground campaigns across rural Cambodia