Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia a tool of “revenge” in personal disputes.208 Most recently, the Thai government has begun to wield the Computerrelated Crimes Act and a sedition-like offence under article 116 of the Criminal Code instead of article 112 to target alleged criticism of the monarchy online – a worrying development amidst Thailand’s strengthening of measures to target “fake news” on social media platforms.209 In October 2019, Karn Pongpraphapan, a 25-year-old pro-democracy activist was arrested under the CCA for posting “inappropriate” online content against the monarchy on social media, even though the post had not explicitly referred to the Thai royal family (see below).210 His post had been linked to an incident of a royal motorcade holding up traffic in Bangkok, soon after which a hashtag criticizing the motorcade had begun circulating widely on Twitter.211 The day after his arrest, it was reported that the police had begun investigation into five other people linked to the allegedly offensive comments online.212 The arrest of Karn Pongpraphapan accentuates concerns that “criticism” or “offending the reputation of the monarchy” may be used as an arbitrary justification for State authorities to clamp down on expression and opinion online. His arrest came less than three months after Digital Economy and Society Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta vowed to “purge” social media of insults against the monarchy, and before the opening of Thailand’s Anti-Fake News Centre on 1 November, which civil society and academic observers have warned may be used to further surveil and censor speech online.213 Thai authorities have also, in recent cases, required that 208 iLaw, ‘10 Q&A about lèse majesté law’, Available at: https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/freedom-ofexpression-101/QA-112 209 TLHR has noted this trend. In 2018, lawyer Prawet Prapanukul was convicted under article 116 of the Criminal Code after he had been indicted for ten Facebook message posts deemed in violation of article 112, and three other posts deemed in violation of article 116. In the same year, a visually impaired woman from Yala province, Nurahayadi Masao, who had been convicted for a Facebook post allegedly violating article 112, had her conviction overturned on appeal. Soon after, she was charged and convicted under the CCA for an audio clip she had ‘shared’ on Facebook in 2016. See TLHR, ‘Changes in Thailand’s lèse majesté prosecutions in 2018’, 15 January 2019, Available at: https://www.tlhr2014.com/?p=10431&lang=en 210 Bangkok Post, ‘Man arrested amid #royalmotorcade controversy’, 8 October 2019 (‘Bangkok Post, 8 October 2019’), Available at: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1767574/manarrested-amid-royalmotorcade-controversy; Reuters, ‘Thailand arrests man amid #royalmotorcade controversy’, 8 October 2019 (‘Reuters, 8 October 2019’), Available at: https://www.reuters. com/article/us-thailand-cyber/thailand-arrests-man-amid-royalmotorcade-controversyidUSKBN1WN0GE. 211 The holding up of traffic – including an ambulance that had been made to wait in traffic – by the passing of a royal motorcade had resulted in rare expressions of overt criticism of the monarchy expressed online through the hashtag #royalmotorcade. 212 Teeranai Charuvastra, ‘Gov’t Says ‘5 More People’ May Be Nabbed For Royal Insult’, 8 October 2019, Available at: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2019/10/08/govt-says-5-morepeople-may-be-nabbed-for-royal-insult/ 213 Hathai Techakitteranun, ‘Thailand to open anti-fake news centre by Nov 1 to address rumours on 65