Dear Thai newsroom editors: Don’t even think about it. We know you’ve spent the past 12 months banking ideas for ridiculous-yet-pointed headlines for a gasp of lulz tomorrow.
Whether planning acid satire mocking inept officials by reimagining them as qualified or commenting on systematic racism (oops, that was real!), do not flex with those creative writing skills, because using humor to make a point in the Land of Smiles is just not Thai.
That’s the argument from the scolds at the Technology Crime Suppression Division, who yesterday warned people to refrain from posting or sharing bogus stories via social media on the first of April – at risk of prosecution.
“Many countries celebrate April 1 of every year as April Fool’s Day, and people will tell jokes and lie to each other,” the statement read. “But for Thailand, posting or sharing messages that are lies or fake news may lead to confusing the general public, which violates the Computer Crime Act.”
It went on to list sections of the law ripe for prosecution with a nice note that jokes could cost five years in prison and THB100,000.
The dawn of the pandemic last year saw the first known warning against April funnies as touchy officials fretted that bad news, however fake, about COVID or pandemic-related topics could be “damaging [to] the country’s image.”
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Unlike then, the police warning this year was less specific about which topics were off-limits, though senior officer Siriwat Deepor said later today the pandemic was still a no-fly zone.
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