50 Dictating the Internet: Thailand In Thailand, criminal defamation provisions in the Criminal Code, in themselves not human rights compliant, have been abused to clamp down on persons seeking to bring to public attention information regarding human rights violations.148 Criminal defamation under sections 326 and 327 of the Criminal Code carry a maximum sentence of one year’s imprisonment, a fine of up to 20,000 Baht (approx. USD 640) or both, while section 328 criminalizes defamation “by means of publication” with up to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 200,000 Baht (approx. USD 6,400).149 The Computer-related Crimes Act B.E. 2560 (2017) (‘CCA’) – as amended from its 2007 version – has often been used alongside criminal defamation provisions to extend criminalization to expression and information online. Section 14(2) of the CCA criminalizes the “entering of false computer data” which is “likely to cause damage to the protection of national security, public safety… or cause panic to the public”, while section 14(3) criminalizes any such “false” data entry which is “an offence against the security of the Kingdom or is an offence relating to terrorism”. Both crimes are punishable with up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to 100,000 Baht (approx. USD 3,200), or both.150 As will be shown below, the CCA has also been used alongside lesè majesté provisions in Thai law to curtail online speech relating to the monarchy. The ICJ has consistently called for the repeal or amendment of articles 326 to 328 of the Criminal Code and section 14 of the CCA in line with Thailand’s international human rights obligations, including under the ICCPR to which Thailand is a State party.151 Though article 14(1) of the CCA was amended in 2017 to explicitly state that the sub-provision does not 148 ICJ has called for Thailand’s criminal defamation laws to be repealed or amended in line with Thailand’s international legal obligations. See for eg. ICJ, ‘Thailand: misuse of laws restricts fundamental freedoms (UN statement)’, 14 March 2018, Available at: https://www.icj.org/ hrc37thailand/; ICJ, ‘Thailand: verdict in Andy Hall case underscores need for defamation to be decriminalized’, 20 September 2016, Available at: https://www.icj.org/thailand-verdict-in-andy-hall-case-underscores-need-for-defamation-to-bedecriminalized/; ICJ, ‘Thailand: end prosecution of Phuketwan journalists and repeal criminal defamation laws’, 1 September 2015, Available at: https://www.icj.org/thailand-end-prosecutionof-phuketwan-journalists-and-repeal-criminal-defamation-laws/ 149 English translation of Thai Criminal Code B.E. 2499 (‘Thai Criminal Code’), Available at: https:// www.thailandlawonline.com/laws-in-thailand/thailand-criminal-law-text-translation#326 150 English translation of Computer-related Crimes Act B.E. 2560 (‘Thai Netizen, CCA’), Available at: https://thainetizen.org/docs/cybercrime-act-2017/ 151 ICJ, TLHR, ‘Joint Submission of the International Commission of Jurists and Thai Lawyers for Human Rights in advance of the examination of the Kingdom Of Thailand’s Second Periodic Report under Article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil And Political Rights’, 6 February 2017, Available at: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/THA/INT_CCPR_ CSS_THA_26602_E.pdf