Posts target Thai volleyball player with false 'three-finger salute' claim

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on July 6, 2023 at 11:20
  • 3 min read
  • By AFP Thailand

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False posts in Thailand have criticised a volleyball player for purportedly flashing the three-finger salute protest symbol during a match in the capital Bangkok attended by Pita Limjaroenrat, the front runner to become the kingdom's next prime minister. But the photo shared in the posts was actually taken at an earlier match the Thai volleyball team played in Brazil. The international organisation that hosted the match and Thailand's national volleyball body said the player was pictured discussing tactics with her teammates -- not making a political gesture.

"Ban the volleyball association, will stop cheering and stop watching if you've joined the three fingers. Don't dare wear our national team's uniform," reads a Thai-language Facebook post shared here on June 30.

The post shares a collage showing Pita attending a Volleyball Nations League match in Bangkok on June 29 alongside a photo of player Ajcharaporn Kongyot holding up three fingers.

Screenshot of the false post taken July 6, 2023

Posts with a similar claim juxtaposing images of Pita and Ajcharaporn were also shared on Twitter and elsewhere on Facebook here and here.

Other Facebook posts here and here also criticised Ajcharaporn for allegedly doing the three-finger salute from "The Hunger Games" movies -- a symbol of defiance that first emerged in 2014 after the military seized power in a coup, suspending democracy and curtailing free expression.

Pita's progressive Move Forward Party won the most seats in Thailand's May election where the pro-democracy opposition trounced army-backed parties that have ruled the kingdom for nearly a decade.

But since winning the election, MFP has faced resistance from within the junta-appointed Senate, partly because of the party's controversial push to reform Thailand's royal defamation laws, which carry a jail term of up to 15 years.

Match in Brazil

Ajcharaporn's photo, however, was not taken during the match between Thailand and Turkey that Pita watched in Bangkok.

A reverse image search on Google led to the same image published here on the Volleyball World website. The image's caption reads, "Thailand (THA) vs. Croatia (CRO) women - Pool 4 - Preliminary Phase #5547891" (archived link).

"The photo was taken on the field of play during the Volleyball Nations League match between Thailand and Croatia on June 19 by the volleyballworld.com photographer," Anna Manuelian, a representative for the International Volleyball Federation that held the match in Brazil, told AFP on July 6.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo used in one of the false posts (left) and the image published by World Volleyball (right):

Screenshot comparison between the photo used in the false post (left) and the image published by World Volleyball (right)

'No political context'

Responding to claims made about Ajcharaporn's gesture in the photo, Manuelian said: "We do not see any political context in it."

The Thailand Volleyball Association separately refuted the posts in a statement on its Facebook page on June 30 (archived link).

"In regards to the image shared as evidence of players getting involved in politics, the fact is that this image was taken from the second week of Nations League competition in Brazil," reads part of the Thai-language statement.

It added Ajcharaporn "was gesturing about the strategy the opposing team was about to use in the upcoming play".

AFP has previously debunked false claims involving the three-fingered salute here, here and here.

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