Some 245 000 members of the Thai military have been banned from using the e-commerce giant Lazada’s websites for official purposes over an advert that has been claimed as being insulting to the country’s royal family.
According to the BBC, citizens loyal to the king complained about a TikTok video promoting a Lazada sale on 5 May. Royalists said the advert, which featured a woman in a wheelchair, mocked the younger sister of King Vajiralongkorn, Princess Chulabhorn, who uses a wheelchair as a result of having Lupus, an autoimmune disease.
Thailand has strict laws over defaming, insulting or threatening senior members of the royal family.
Thai army spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong said in a statement that the video was ‘offensive to the monarchy’ and ‘caused disunity in Thai society’.
The BBC quoted her as saying: ‘The army now has a policy to ban all army units and army-related activities from ordering merchandise from Lazada platform or delivering things from Lazada.’
Thailand’s digital economy minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn told reporters that the government was considering legal action against the influencer and the advertising agency responsible for the video, as well as Lazada.
Under Thailand’s lèse-majesté law, courts can hand down jail terms of up to 15 years for each offence of defaming, insulting or threatening King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the queen, their heir or regent.
Singapore-based Lazada, one of South East Asia’s biggest online retailers and the regional unit of Chinese online retail group Alibaba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.