After the arrest of an anti-junta activists accused of lèse majesté for sharing the BBC Thai’s biography of King Rama X, Thai authorities have blocked the article.
On 6 December 2016, leading internet service providers in Thailand, such as TRUE, AIS, and 3BB blocked the access to the biography of King King Vajiralongkorn, Rama X, published by the BBC Thai on 2 December.
The article is replaced by a logo of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) with a message reads “this website contains inappropriate information and is blocked by MDES.”
Since it was published the BBC Thai’s biography of King Rama X has already been shared by more than 2,500 people. 27,887 Facebook users clicked ‘like’ on the article.
Many ultra-royalists, however, criticised the BBC Thai for publishing the article, saying that its content is defaming to the new King of the country.
On 3 December, police officers arrested Jatuphat Boonpattaraksa, a key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM) anti-junta activist group, for sharing the article on his Facebook account.
After one day of detention, Khon Kaen Provincial Court, however, granted him 400,000 baht bail the next day.
