The global discourse surrounding Thailand’s enforcement of Section 112 – commonly known as its lese-majeste law – has long focused on the state’s use of repression. Scholars, activists, and international human rights bodies have dissected the draconian nature of the law and the judicial complicity that ensures near-100 percent conviction rates. They have scrutinized the physical violence, including state-sponsored cross-border abductions and extrajudicial killings, that is often directed at critics of the monarchy. The role of military-funded information operations as a means of doxxing and harassing critics of the monarchy has also been well-documented.
However, an under-analyzed dimension of this repressive ecosystem is the use by the ultra-royalist establishment on a coterie of pseudo-academics and right-wing social media influencers. Recognizing that brute force, prison sentences, and clumsy military information operations are insufficient to win the hearts and minds of a highly connected, critical populace, the royalist establishment has cultivated a network of digital proxies to provide the “intellectual” face of the monarchy. Figures such as Arnond Sakworawich, an associate professor at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), and Suphanat Aphinyan (better known online as “Dr. New”), have recently been elevated to lead the counter-offensive against pro-democracy academics and student activists.
