Police arrested two suspects today accused of coercing four schoolboys into sex acts they filmed and sold via Twitter.
Anti-human trafficking agents detained the alleged owners of two Twitter accounts with large followings that were used to distribute clips in which they both engaged in sexual acts with four sixth-grade boys.
The suspects are two transgender women identified in Thai-language media only as Lakhana “Sorfo” and Netnapha “Kae.” Their Twitter accounts had followings of 260,000 and 100,000, respectively.
Lakhana, 20, was arrested southeast of Bangkok in Chonburi province. Netnapha, 19, was arrested in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen.
The Twitter accounts teased followers with previews of the abusive clips and asked people to fork over around THB350 (US$10) for invites to a Line group chat where they could view the clips in full.
It was there that police said they infiltrated the group and found clips of the pair abusing their victims. The boys have been provided counseling and psychological services.
Police were expected to bring them before the Criminal Court later today.
A New York Times review earlier this month found that child pornography was widely circulated on Twitter, despite vows by its new owner to eliminate it. The report said that material included content that was easy to detect and eliminate. It said that new owner Elon Musk fired or lost employees who had the most experience in handling the problem.
