the referendum date. After receiving a ballot, Piyarat tore it into pieces and shouted, “Down with dictatorship, long live democracy.” The authorities immediately arrested Piyarat along with Thongtham and Jirawat, who filmed and uploaded the incident on social media, under the Referendum Act for disrupting the peace in a polling station. On 26 September 2017, the Phra Khanong Provincial Court acquitted the three defendants of the charge of conspiring to create disorder in a polling station under the Referendum Act. As for Piyarat, who tore up his ballot, the court sentenced him to two months in prison and fined him the sum of 2,000 baht for destroying another’s property. Piyarat’s prison sentence was, however, suspended for a year. • On 6 January 2015, the Cabinet accepted the principles of 10 drafts of digital security laws. One of them was the draft of the National Cyber Security Act, which contained Section 35 that allowed officials to spy on internet communication, email and phone calls without any court warrant. This caused a widely known public disagreement. In the end, these 10 drafts of digital security laws had to be put on hold, but eight of them were enacted one after another. However, most of those acts were about arrangement of the organisation’s structure.63 The draft National Cyber Security Act and the draft Online Privacy Protection Act had not been enacted yet and there was not any sign if they were going to be enacted soon. • In September 2015, there was news reported that the government was developing a policy to create a single gateway system to take control over internet communication, even though this was not practical in Thailand. A single gateway was beyond the capabilities of Thailand’s current technology and capital expenditure. Moreover, the government would have had to pass laws to take back the gateway’s business which was now in the hands of the private business sector. Thus, this was hardly possible in reality. After news about this controversial policy was widespread, the society was against it. People were afraid that they might be under surveillance and blocked from information that the government did not want them to know. • On 8 March 2017, the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA), a junta-appointed assembly for national reform purposes, introduced the draft “Media Registration Act”. This draft law enforced all the media including online media such as Facebook fan pages to register with the National Press Council of Thailand and be under the regulation of a code of ethics. After this draft came out to the public, it was opposed by Thailand’s professional media organisations. The NRSA subsequently amended the draft many times. It should be noted that the NRSA did not have legislative power and it could only give suggestions. Thus, in order for the draft to become a law, the cabinet would have to approve it and then the National Legislative Assembly would have to pass it. However, there is no longer any consideration of this draft. Spread news, create fear: A more effective tool than legal measures Apart from exercising legal powers to arrest and prosecute individuals for political dissent, the NCPO government has also used social or psychological measures to create a climate of fear in the public. Whether or not the NCPO planned to create a climate of fear, freedom of expression in Thailand has been affected. When people began to feel uncertain of how much they could express their opinion, they started to censor themselves and politics became a taboo topic in the society. Normally, when the NCPO government uses legal actions to arrest political dissidents and charges them with sedition or lèse majesté, the NCPO holds a press conference. The NCPO has never prohibited any media reports about charges against political dissidents, so stories of their arrest and punishment could spread out. Moreover, for the last three years under the NCPO government, officials have taken turns to provide news about new measures to control online media, most of which were just threats. For example: • On the afternoon of 28 May 2014, six days after the coup, there was some anti-coup protest which had been organised via Facebook. Then Facebook went offline for one hour, but the NCPO denied that they had any part in it. This demonstrated the NCPO’s power to the people, and that the NCPO could do it if they wanted to.62 62 Becker, O. (2014, 28 May). Thailand’s Military Denies Briefly Banning Facebook. Vice News. https://news.vice.com/article/ thailands-military-denies-briefly-banning-facebook 63 Thai Netizen Network. (2015, 15 January). Thailand’s Digital Economy-Cyber Security Bills [English translation]. https:// thainetizen.org/2015/01/digital-economy-cyber-security-bills-en 140 / Unshackling Expression