ILaw files court complaint against military IO campaign in South
Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) filed a complaint with the Administrative Court on Thursday, calling on the Royal Thai Army to refrain from “inappropriate” information operations (IO).
The move by the rights NGO came a day after Facebook said it had removed accounts linked to the Thai military that were using “inauthentic coordinated behaviour” to target the deep South. The Thai military has been accused of widespread human rights abuse in the deep South, which has been wracked by a separatist insurgency for the past two decades.
"We call on the Army to stop the [information] operation immediately," iLaw manager Yingcheep Atchanont said, adding that the NGO had evidence showing the Army was using IO to target its opponents. ILaw had refrained from filing a criminal complaint to avoid accusing military officials directly, he said.
"We will submit additional evidence to Facebook and a letter to the United Nations special rapporteur," Yingcheep added.
Meanwhile, a human rights lawyer said the Army had no authority to run such information operations outside wartime conditions, adding that the court could order the military to clarify the matter.
Facebook announced on Wednesday it had removed 185 accounts and groups engaged in military propaganda in the insurgency-hit dee South. The network comprised 77 accounts, 72 pages and 18 Instagram accounts linked to the military’s Internal Security Operations Command.