A Privacy International report has found that the Thai government is using enlisted civilians to use social media as a surveillance tool on each other — “and even rewarding child ‘Cyber Scouts,’” Vice News states. “The information being gathered is helping Thai police bring charges of ‘lèse majesté’ — a long-standing law in Thailand in which anyone who ‘defames, insults, or threatens’ the top members of the royal family faces a prison term of up to 15 years,” the report adds. Surveillance efforts in the country have increased since General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s 2014 coup and the government’s subsequent revision of the Computer Crime Act. "The Thai junta has shown so little response to international pressure," said Privacy International’s Eva Blum-Dumontet. "I don't really have much hope for change on this matter, especially because lèse majesté is such a particular issue and particular to Thailand as well."
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