Two Thai women are facing a maximum of five years in prison under the computer crime laws, for stripping on Facebook Live, which they were paid to do in order to boost “likes and shares.”
Thanyakarn “Maeya” Rojin 23, and Kanthicha “Gik” Buranin, 21 turned themselves in at Bangkok’s Bang Khen police station yesterday and charged with uploading obscene materials to a publicly accessible system, which is punishable by a five-year jail term and a fine of THB10,000 minimum, according to Khaosod English.
In an Aug. 23 video that only had 30,000 viewers at the time, the women stripped naked, wearing only pasties and using their hands and Hello Kitty and monkey plush toys to cover their private parts.
“I won’t do this anymore because this is wrong. I feel so guilty for damaging society and setting a bad example for the younger generation,” said Maeya at the press conference yesterday.
“But I really had to support my family. I have a mother and a younger sibling who needs tuition. I don’t have enough income,” she added,
Maeya told reporters that she occasionally accepted money to appear on Facebook Live videos, but she had never stripped.
She added that the Facebook page that paid her, which was not identified, wanted to increase page likes and shares that day, so Maeya and Kik took off items of clothing to try to encourage viewers to engage with the page.
Maeya said they were paid a five-figure sum of baht to do the video, which would mean they were aid between THB10,000-90,000 (USD300-2,710).
“I only thought about earning the money for my family,” Maeya said.
Since the two women did not pose a flight risk, they were released on THB75,000 bail. The investigation is ongoing.
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