Phuket Vice Governor Supoj Rotreuang Na Nongkhai confirmed the news to the press yesterday (Jan 31).
The complaint filed by AoT Phuket requests that police press charges under Section 14 of the Computer Crimes Act, Vice Governor Supoj said.
“The person posted wrong information and photos about the Wuhan flu, which affected Phuket’s tourism image,” he said.
Among the Wuhan flu reports in Phuket going viral this week was a post claiming that a foreign woman at the airport had died of the Wuhan coronavirus.
The post, uploaded onto Facebook by “Konnika Jampaburee” on Monday (Jan 27), showed a photo of a person covered with a white sheet being wheeled out of the airport and loaded into an ambulance.
Along with the photo were the words in Thai, “One death at Phuket International Airport #Chinese”.
Dr Sutsinee Sakswut, the airport doctor on duty on Monday, confirmed to The Phuket News on Wednesday that nobody had died from the “Wuhan flu” at the airport. “The post is wrong,” she said. (See story here.)
Vice Governor Supoj pointed out that under Section 14 (1) of the Computer Crimes Act it is illegal to for any person to commit an act “that involves import to a computer system of forged computer data, either in whole or in part, or false computer data, in a manner that is likely to cause damage to that third party or the public”.
If found guilty, perpetrators may face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to B100,000, or both, he added.
Vice Governor Supoj warned people over posting or sharing news that does not declare its source.
“The current situation has found that there is a lot of false news that undermines the credibility and confidence of Phuket,” he said.
“I want everyone to check before sharing any information on your social media or even face to face,” he added.
Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavitaptana has set up a fake news “task force” to target and investigate fake news reports online, Vice Governor Supoj added.
“There is a working group to monitor fake news presenters in social media,” he confirmed.
Vice Governor Supoj confirmed that he has been appointed to lead the working group with the assistance of the Phuket branch of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), which serves as the political arm of the Thai military.
“Media that is fake news creates panic among citizens and tourists. Such actions are considered as an offense under Article 14 (1) of the Computer Crimes Act,” he said.
“Phuket Airport has already reported one case for prosecution, in which damaging messages and clips of Phuket have been presented to the public, including some people presenting panic messages about visiting Phuket and people in Phuket becoming infected,” Vice Governor Supoj explained.
“All such messages create panic and causing damage to Phuket. Therefore, we ask the public to be careful when sharing [posts online].
“In addition, the working group will check various false news posts and reports in order to solve the problem and reduce the damage that will occur to Phuket,” he said.