BANGKOK, July 25 — A viral row over noisy passengers on Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain has escalated into a diplomatic social media headache, with the Italian Embassy in Thailand disabling comments on its Facebook page after thousands of angry Thai users flooded the account.
The move came after a video showing a confrontation between a Thai commuter and a group of foreign passengers went viral, amassing about 500,000 views on TikTok and more than 14 million on X, according to Khaosod English.
The viral clip captures an argument over the group’s noise level.
The embassy’s latest Facebook post drew more than 11,000 angry reactions before comments were switched off.
The backlash quickly spilled elsewhere, with users moving to the embassy’s profile picture, where comments remained open, and others posting messages on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s social media accounts.
Many online users identified the group as Italian students, although their nationality, identities and ages could not be independently verified.
In the video, one young woman says they are students trying to find their way.
“We are a group of students… we don’t know where to go,” she can be heard saying.
The footage shows the commuter repeatedly asking the group to lower their voices after they boarded the train.
“Just say like normal things, ok? In Thailand we don’t scream,” the commuter responded.
An unseen passenger replies: “Sorry for bringing money to your country,” before the woman accuses the group of having “no manners”.
The exchange quickly descends into a volley of insults.
One passenger tells the woman to “shut the f*** up”, prompting a similarly profane response. Asked where they are from, one male passenger appears to answer: “Your mom.”
The woman also tells the group: “This line is not good for travel. You have to go to another line, the Sukhumvit line. This one just for living.” BTS, however, has no published rule restricting tourists to specific lines.
An older woman travelling with the group objects to the filming, saying: “You can’t film them, they’re under 18.”
The person recording tells her to call the police before the woman believed to be leading the group responds: “I’m going to call the police for you, OK?”
After the clip went viral, the uploader said the dispute had begun before filming started.
She claimed she was travelling home on the BTS Silom Line at about 7am when she heard loud shouting that was audible through her headphones. A large group of young foreign passengers then boarded and continued shouting and playing inside the carriage.
She said she eventually asked: “Could you please be quieter?”
According to the uploader, a woman she believed was a teacher or chaperone replied: “Please be patient. They are children. You can’t expect children to be quiet.”
She also alleged some members of the group later insulted her, told her to go to hospital and kicked a glass divider after leaving the train. Those claims are not fully shown in the video and could not be independently verified.
The uploader denied targeting any nationality, saying the post concerned the behaviour of one group and the adults supervising them. Her original caption, however, asked: “What nationality are they? Is it time for Thailand to stop giving free visas?”
Many online commenters sided with the commuter.
“Wherever you go, you should bring manners with you,” one X user wrote.
