A legal complaint has been filed against a controversial transgender influencer for appearing in an online advertisement accused of violating the lese majeste law.
Activist Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Thai Constitution, sought the legal action with the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) against influencer Aniwat Prathumthin, better known by her social media alias of Nara Crepe Katoey, on charge of breaking Section 112 of the Criminal Code, or the lese majeste law, and the Computer Crime law.
Nara and another woman appear in an online commercial for e-commerce platform Lazada, which was criticised for mocking the disabled.
The ad promoted Lazada's 5.5 shopping festival campaign. Intersect Design Factory, a media agency, was hired to coordinate the production of video clips to promote the event through social media and influencers.
Nara was contacted by Intersect to perform in the ad, which was shown on her TikTok account.
The ad, which features Nara and a wheelchair-bound woman, identified as Thidarat Chaokuwiang, having fun and joking around with each other, drew criticism from many netizens, including those who believe the outfit worn by the disabled person referred obliquely to the royal family.
Both Intersect and Lazada later issued an apology for the incident and removed the ad.
Meanwhile, Nara has offered no apology nor shown regret on any of her social media accounts.
Some customers are said to have uninstalled the application in protest, although on Saturday Mr Srisuwan said Nara has also run the ad on her Facebook page attracting many comments supporting her action.
Despite the apologies from Lazada and Intersect, the companies remain complicit in an illegal act, as well as dehumanising the disabled, says Mr Srisuwan.
Meanwhile, the Royal Chitralada Project has announced on its own Facebook page that it has terminated sales of its products via Lazada.
The decision came a day after the DoiTung shop under the Mae Fah Luang Foundation suspended sales on Lazada's LazMall premium mini-site.
