Fake news warning denies Phuket Governor is illegal migrant smuggler

The warning came yesterday (Dec 5), and was shared by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department this morning (Dec 6).

“According to the information published on the subject ‘Phuket Governor Approved budget for building a mosque of 56 million baht and transporting Muslims to Phuket’, the Anti-Fake News Center has conducted a fact check by Phuket Provincial Public Relations Office found that such issues is false information,” said the notice issued yesterday.

“In the case of posting information indicating that a Muslim governor who pretends to be a Buddhist moved from Chaiyaphum to Phuket approved a budget of more than 56 million baht to build a mosque and bringing a large number of foreign Muslims into Phuket, the Phuket Public Relations Office has reviewed the post and clarified that It’s not true at all.

“The governor of Phuket is a Buddhist. He has never approved a budget of 56 million baht to build a mosque and has never smuggled Muslims into Phuket in any way,” the notice said.

“Therefore, people are asked not to trust such information and [we] ask for cooperation not to send or share such information on various social media channels. People can receive more information from the Phuket Public Relations Office posted through the website https://pr.prd.go.th/phuket or [they can] call 076-216118,” the post added, using its standard reminder.

People were advised to report any reports or social media posts suspected of being “fake news” via:
LINE: @antifakenewscenter (http://nav.cx/uyKYnsG)
Website: https://www.antifakenewscenter.com/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AFNCThailand 
Hotline: Government Information Service Center for the People Tel: 1111 ext. 87

The Anti Fake News Center issued an identical fake news warning in October, but has yet to make any mention of any legal action pending due to the claims being found to be false.