The Criminal Court has dismissed a royal defamation charge against a 35-year-old man who was alleged to run Ku Kult, a political satire Facebook page.

35-year-old Narin (last name withheld) was charged under the royal defamation law and the Computer Crime Act. He was indicted in 2023 for 12 acts related to this case. The indictment said he intended to undermine and insult the monarchy through satirical images and messages, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

Narin denied all allegations, testifying that he was not the one who ran the page or posted the messages as charged.

The Court ruled on Thursday (19 June) to dismiss the case against Narin, concluding that no solid evidence showed that he operated the Facebook page. The plaintiff merely testified that he ordered the production of T-shirts with the Ku Kult logo, but failed to present transaction records or other supporting evidence to the Court.

Before this case, he was also charged with royal defamation for putting a sticker on a portrait of King Vajiralongkorn in front of the Supreme Court during a protest on 19 September 2020. The Appeal Court overturned the initial verdict, dismissing the case against him. 

Ku Kult, a Facebook page known for its politically satirical content, emerged in 2011 after the Red Shirt protests, during which its content quickly went viral and became widely shared memes on social media. The content was duplicated and modified before being disseminated across the platform.

After the 2014 coup, access to the page was blocked at the request of the Thai authorities. It remained unclear when the original page was officially closed. However, several similar pages with the same logo later appeared, though it could not be confirmed whether they were run by the same person. The Ku Kult logo has also been reproduced in various forms, including stickers and T-shirts.