A 40-year-old man has been charged under the royal defamation law and Computer-Related Crime Act over his comment on a Facebook post inviting people to greet King Vajiralongkorn during a royal motorcade.

<p>Royalist Marketplace, a Facebook group of 2.3 million members dedicated to frank discussions of the Thai monarchy, was rendered inaccessible in Thailand last night, according to the group founder.</p>

<p>A 26-year-old single mother has been sentenced to 3 years in prison on a royal defamation charge for commenting on the monarchy reformist Facebook group Royalist Marketplace.</p>

<p>Punyaphat (last name withheld), a 29-year-old man with a mental illness, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for posts he made in the Facebook group Royalist Marketplace about King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida&rsquo;s popularity and the King&rsquo;s trips to Germany.</p>

<p>Samut Prakan Provincial Court has dismissed a lèse majesté charge against an internet user posting a comment about the late King Rama IX in a Facebook group, on the grounds that the law protects only the current monarch; instead the court imposed a jail sentence for uploading false information, a charge that was not part of the initial indictment.</p>

<p>A Ministry of Digital Economy and Society representative filed a complaint against a trans woman for sharing a Facebook post of an academic critic of the monarchy. In another incident, a man was charged for a post in the &lsquo;Royalist Marketplace&rsquo; Facebook group, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.</p>

<p>Access to a Facebook group of 1 million monarchy reformists has been restricted in Thailand. Group founder Pavin Chachavalpongpun says &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s fight, bitch&rdquo; as he opens a new group which registers more than 375,000 members in 5 hours. Facebook also says it is preparing legal action against Thai government as its restriction requests may violate international human rights law.</p>

<p>Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) has filed a complaint with the Technology Crime Supression Division (TCSD) to prosecute Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai professor in exile and the admin of a Facebook group which has more than 1 million monachy reformists as supporters.</p>

<p>Puttipong Punnakanta, Minister of the Digital Economy and Society (DES), says that Facebook has violated the Thai Computer Crime Act for blocking only 20 per cent of all illegal content whose removal has been requested by the authorities.</p>

<p>A human rights lawyer has submitted a petition to a parliamentary committee on witch hunts and legal harassment against at least 25 critics of the Thai monarchy on the &lsquo;Royalist Marketplace&rsquo; Facebook.</p>