BANGKOK — A pro-democracy activist Thursday gave information to police about the purveyors of an online hoax which triggered a storm of rape threats against her and her son.
Nuttaa “Bow” Mahattana today went to cybercrimes police with a board showing screenshots of posts from several Facebook pages sharing fabricated quotes attributed to her that she would not support capital punishment even for someone who raped her. She said she would leave it up to police to pursue the case.
Read: Troll Post Opens Flood of Rape Threats Against Activist
“I’m not pressing charges because this matter is too personal,” she said. “I just wanted to give information about Facebook pages that are a threat to society, so they can take a look at their behavior and make a report.”
She also presented comments she described as “hate speech and cybercrimes.”
Speaking at the Technology Crime Suppression Division, Nuttaa said she would not file charges because “a lot of people have been deprived of their rights and their cases have not made any progress.”
Last week, as people across the nation focused their attention on the first execution in nine years, a troll Facebook page posted a picture of a quote placed next to Nuttaa’s face saying “If I’m raped, please don’t execute the perpetrator” with a noticeably smaller text disclaimer reading “Bow didn’t say this.”
The post was shared at least 11,000 times within two days, even by a news agency. It quickly drew a huge number of toxic comments from netizens calling for both her and her son to be sexually assaulted.
Nuttaa said the officers she saw today suggested that she make an accusation instead, especially against the admin of a Facebook group that photoshopped her face into an image of a man accused of murdering and chopping his ex-girlfriend into 14 pieces out of jealousy.
“I’ll leave it up to the [police] if they want to do something about this or not,” she said. “I’m just bringing in tips about some ill-behaved media.”
She pointed out that the division recently took legal action against two Facebook pages criticizing the junta, even there was no accuser.
