The Criminal Court has ordered the Progressive Movement (PM) to erase Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit's video that criticises the government's Covid-19 vaccination plan while police are considering a lese majeste charge against him.
The court said the video was distributed on three platforms including a website, a YouTube channel and a Facebook page, all run by the Progressive Movement, Minister of Digital Economy and Society Buddhipongse Punnakanta said yesterday.
It ordered the Progressive Movement to pull down Mr Thanathorn's video published on the channels, citing the video's adverse effects on internal security, Mr Buddhipongse said.
The order came after Mr Buddhipongse assigned the ministry's legal team to lodge a complaint with the Technology Crime Suppression Division, asking it to take legal action against Mr Thanathorn under Section 112 of the Criminal Code, or the lese majeste law, and the Computer Crime Act.
Mr Thanathorn took to Facebook Live on Jan 18 to pose the question "Royal vaccine: Who benefits and who doesn't?" in which he criticised the government's strategy for being too reliant on one company -- Siam Bioscience.
The Progressive Movement leader defended his criticism of the government's Covid-19 vaccine plan, saying he is doing his job scrutinising the government's response to Covid-19. He said he supported the government's move to negotiate with several vaccine manufacturers so there will be sufficient vaccines for Thais and denied he was trying to criticise the higher institution.
Mr Buddhipongse said police are bound to take action in this case.
Progressive Movement executive Pannika Wanich yesterday tweeted that the group had not yet received the court's order to pull down Mr Thanatorn's video. She insisted the video contained no lies or threats to national security and did not clarify if the party would comply with the court ruling. Ms Kannikar also urged YouTube and Facebook to protect the right to freedom of speech.