While both leading candidates in this year’s gubernatorial election – Democrat MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra and Pheu Thai Party candidate Pongsapat Pongcharoen – have made ample use of social media in their campaigns, some academics are warning that that electoral tool could have hidden pitfalls.
In a report on the phenomenon, the Nation recently singled out Democrat MP Sirichok Sopha as an example of what can happen when social media and politics become unhappy bedfellows. Sirichok recently posted a picture of a Red Shirt protester astride a burning public bus to his Facebook, then went on to imply that Pongsapat supported that type of behavior.
While certainly manipulative, some academics are also saying this this type of post could in fact be construed as libel.
Bangkok’s Local Assembly Election Act forbids the slandering of a political opponent and some politicians’ social media posts have come close to crossing that line.
However, as mentioned in the Nation, neither of Bangkok’s leading gubernatorial candidates has yet resorted to an outright, social media attack, perhaps due to their cognizance of this legal grey area.
