Thai influencers charged with royal insult

BANGKOK, June 16 (AFP): Thai police charged three social media influencers with lese majeste Thursday over controversial social media advertisments for an e-commerce firm that monarchists said mocked a member of the royal family.

The TikTok clips promoting Lazada-owned by China's Alibaba Group- enraged ultra-royalists who called for it to be banned in the kingdom, and led to the Thai military barring the firm's delivery vehicles from its premises.

Criticism of the monarchy is taboo in Thailand, where King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family are protected by some of the world's toughest royal insult laws, with each charge carrying a prison term of up to 15 years.

Police Colonel Siriwat Deepo from the Technology Crime Suppression Division confirmed to AFP the arrest of the three people acting in the clips: Anuwat Pratumklin, Kittikhun Thamakitirat and Thidaporn Chaokovieng.