Three people have been sentenced to eight months in prison for violating the Computer Crime Act for deliberately sharing fake news.
The fake news reports concerned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his deputy, Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, approving the purchase of a 91.2-billion-baht satellite to spy on people.
Suthat Pratang, Sombat Chomchom and Yot Lasopha were found guilty yesterday by the Criminal Court of breaching the law.
They were among 14 parties who shared the fake news from June 4-10, 2018. It was initially spread by Watthana Embage on her Facebook page “KhonthaiUK”.
The other 11 defendants have been acquitted.
Suthat claimed he shared the post based on the impression it was a true story published by the online version of the Thai-language newspaper Khaosod. The court concluded that this was untrue.
Sombat and Yot admitted they had shared the controversial post because they wanted more people to follow their Facebook accounts, said the ruling.
The Ministry of Defence never purchased the satellite, as claimed in the Facebook post.
It was intentionally shared along with a vulgar message urging action against Gen Prayut, Gen Prawit and the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order, it said.
Such misconduct is prohibited under Section 14 of the act, said the ruling.
All 14 defendants had pleaded not guilty, while Ms Watthana was never located.