Thais are well aware that the government, palace and military are the main sources of fake news and misinformation in the kingdom. The regime is also trying to get Facebook and Twitter to censor critical posts about the monarchy and military. 2/8
Thais were already suspicious of Twitter after digital economy minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta revealed had held discussions with the social media platform.
There is also concern over whether Twitter might hand over user data to the Thai regime, following the arrest of Twitter user @ssj_2475 who had posted criticism of the monarchy. It remains unknown how the regime discovered his identity and IP address. 4/8
By announcing that Twitter has been cooperating with the regime, @arvindergujral has dramatically undermined trust in the platform. The hashtag #ไม่เอาทวิตเตอร์ไทยแลนด์ is dominating the conversation on Twitter right now. 5/8
Gujral's says Twitter is supporting efforts to “provide accurate data, track down misinformation and disinformation, as well as to fight for democracy, justice and free speech in Thailand and around the region”. 6/8
But these goals are totally incompatible with any cooperation with the Thai regime. To claim to support freedom of speech and accurate reporting, while also partnering with the regime, shows that either Twitter doesn't understand the situation in Thailand or doesn't care. 7/8
Thais have been increasingly adopting Twitter because it was seen as a platform where they could speak freely and safely. Now, many are deleting their Twitter accounts.
Twitter needs to urgently pledge that it will cease cooperation with the Thai regime. 8/8
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⚠️ UPDATE — I have more details from royal and medical sources about what happened to Princess Bajrakitiyabha last Wednesday, and also spoke to a specialist foreign-based ICU and trauma consultant to help interpret the information. 1/
To make this clear once again, I have no personal animosity against the princess, and while everybody knows I am not a fan of King Vajiralongkorn, his grief is clearly genuine and he deserves compassion and understanding right now. 2/13
But the people of Thailand also deserve to be told the truth, instead of being dragged into days or weeks of royalist theatrics to pray for the recovery of a woman who has already been dead for four days according to any sensible definition of what it means to die. 3/13
⚠️ UPDATE — Here is the latest on what we know so far about the death of Princess Bajrakitiyabha on Wednesday and what will happen next. You can also read the post on Facebook: facebook.com/zenjournalist/… 1/26
The latest information from royal sources is that the palace may try to keep her artificially alive on an ECMO machine at Chulalongkorn Hospital for days, maybe even until after New Year, at which point they will turn off the machine and announce she has died. 2/26
They're worried that if New Year festivities are cancelled and the tourism & hospitality industries take another hit at this crucial time of year, after all the pain they suffered during the pandemic, it will further inflame anti-monarchy sentiment which is already rampant. 3/26
⚠️UPDATE — Here is what we know so far about the health emergency suffered by Princess Bajrakitiyabha yesterday. While running with her dogs in Khao Yai national park she had a heart attack. She is only 44 years old. 1/9
She was initially taken to Pak Chong Nana Hospital where CPR was attempted for hours without success. Vajiralongkorn rushed to the hospital in a military helicopter. 2/9
A decision was made that the only viable option was to fly her to Bangkok for ECMO treatment, which is a way of keeping people alive when their heart and lungs cannot function en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extracorp… 3/9
A fascinating note written by former prime minister written by former Sanya Dharmasakti in June 1979, while he was head of the Privy Council, details the meddling of Queen Sirikit and the rifts in the palace. 1/14
The note says Sirikit's political meddling was causing severe problems in Thailand and the royal family had become "completely divided". It says King Bhumibol had warned that Sirikit became violent when angry. The situation was getting "getting more serious every day". 2/14
According to the document, Sirikit wanted Bhumibol to abdicate on October 14, 1973, when Thailand's military dictators fled into exile after a student uprising and the country entered a period of democracy. He was persuaded not to abdicate by his advisor Vasit Dejkunjorn. 3/14
How bad are the problems at Thai royal company Siam Bioscience which have derailed Thailand's mass inoculation drive after just a week and caused delays in deliveries to Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines (and maybe more countries we don't know about)? Here comes a THREAD 1/15
As is widely known by now, Siam Bioscience is a totally opaque company which has consistently failed to provide even basic information, and the Thai government is routinely lying to cover up problems at Siam Bioscience because they are terrified of offending Vajiralongkorn 2/15
On June 2, Siam Bioscience held a weird ceremony with no journalists invited, presided over by Vajiralongkorn's right-hand man Satitpong Sukvimol with a speech by Princess Sirivannavari's bff Nualphan “Madam Pang” Lamsam, to mark the delivery of the first 1.8 million doses 3/15
My latest #SecretSiam article tells the story of political godfather Newin Chidchob, and it struck me that like a malignant Forrest Gump, he was present at most of the disasters and scandals of recent decades. Here's a THREAD about his shady past secretsiam.news/p/mafia-bosses… 1/16
An early classic episode in Newin's career was when he paid some crooked police to bomb his own house, to try to make him look like a brave whistleblower at risk of being assassinated by his enemies. Professor @bkksnow wrote about it in this paper journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09… 2/16
In 1995, his vote canvassers were caught with a huge stash of his elections leaflets each with 120 baht stapled to them. The total haul was 11.4 million baht. Newin said he knew nothing about the vote buying antics of his canvassers and escaped charges. 3/16