Posts target Thai activists on hunger strike with miscaptioned photo of two other women

The photo, which shows two women obscured behind the transparent tarpaulin of a tent, was shared on Facebook on February 27. In the photo, one woman is facing the camera while the other is turned away.

"They were supposed to be starving for a month but are still not skinny and dead," partly reads the post's caption.

Thai-language text overlaid on the photo says: "So you said you are on hunger strike, but eat in a tent. Trying not to make people see. Not good enough. Try again next time."

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Screenshot of the false post captured on March 3, 2023

Tawan, 21, and Bam, 23, have been on hunger strike since January 18, a protest to urge support for the abolition of the country's stifling lese majeste laws.

Some of the world's strictest royal defamation laws protect King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family, with some charges carrying up to a 15-year sentence.

The pair were charged with lese majeste over two separate protests in Bangkok in early 2022. They were earlier granted bail but gave it up in solidarity with other political detainees who were refused it.

On February 7, a criminal court ordered the temporary release of Tawan and Bam over health concerns provoked by their hunger strike, AFP reported.

"If held in detention the plaintiffs could lose their lives," the court said in a statement sent to journalists.

On February 10, the Thammasat University Hospital that had been monitoring the pair said both started taking liquids and some minerals but warned their health remains at risk.

Yet despite these developments, false posts here, here and here have continued to circulate online, criticising the pair for purportedly not looking unwell.

These posts were published days after Tawan and Bam began a fresh hunger strike outside Thailand's Supreme Court, where they and their supporters erected a protest site including a tent.

Many comments online suggested people believed the photo showed both activists.

"On a hunger strike for that many days and still they haven't lost weight. So strange," one wrote.

Another user said: "Eating in a hidden tent -- I guess they thought no one would see it. They have been on hunger strike for months, why have they not become emaciated?"

However, the women pictured in the posts show two other activists helping with logistics in the tent protest site.

Mistaken identity

Google reverse image and keyword searches identified the woman facing the camera as Nutthanit Duangmusit while the one turned away as Netiporn Sanesangkhom.

The picture was originally uploaded here on February 24 by Thai online publication The101.world alongside seven other photos in a report about Tawan and Bam's tent protest site.

Below is the photo shared with the false claim (left) alongside the picture from The101.world:

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Two other pictures in the The101.world album show Tawan and Bam being carried on stretchers:

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Moreover, another picture shows Netiporn and Nutthanit both inside the tent as Bam was about to enter:

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AFP reached out to Netiporn and Nutthanit who separately said their photo had been misused.

"I was just preparing things. In my hand was tissue," said Nutthanit.

Netiporn said the picture shows her cleaning the bed for Tawan and Bam inside the tent.

Kritsadang Nutcharas, a lawyer for Tawan and Bam, told AFP both had been taking liquids and some minerals from February 24 to March 2, but have since announced a new hunger strike.