Anyone planning a tripper to Thailand should be propose to keep their opinions to themselves . Wesley Barnes , an American hold up in Thailand , found out this month that the Thai defamation laws can be uttermost after a negative on-line revaluation of a refuge landed him behind bars .
According to theNew York Times , Barnes stayed at the Sea View Koh Chang refuge in June and receive into a difference of opinion with the direction over a $ 15 corkage fee for a bottle of cotton gin that he ’d brought along for his stay . After an controversy , the resort waived the fee , but Barnes arrogate he later witnessed the same supervisor he ’d argufy with treating an employee disrespectfully . That was when he made up his mind to leave several negative reviews on TripAdvisor and Google .
At least one of his reviews was removed from TripAdvisor for break the change of location limited review web site ’s road map . The post reportedly accused the haunt of practicing “ modern daytime slavery , ” according toCBS News . The Times report that a since - deleted brushup also warned visitant to “ forfend this place as if it was the Coronavirus ! ” Another Barnes review from July still lives on the hotel’sTripAdvisor pagethat accuses the manager of being “ extremely rude and impolite to guests . ”
Photo: Mladen Antonov (Getty Images)
The resort claims it attempt to contact Barnes to address the issue of the review that it felt were out of line . A spokesperson for the hotel tell the Times that “ the guest resist to respond to our attempts at communication and instead stay on to persistently post negatively charged and untrue reviews of our business enterprise . ” With no other available recourse , the refuge filed bursting charge under Thailand ’s strict aspersion natural law . On the weekend of Sept. 12 , Barnes found himself in a jail cell on the island of Koh Chang wait for Monday to roll around so he could post bail bond . If convict , the American expat could be confront a maximum time of up to two year in prison house .
Thailand ’s defamation laws are very severe , in particular when it come to online capacity . A couple of weeks ago , a friend of a champion was arrested at his school for posting a one star reassessment on Google function about a resort he visited on Koh Chang . Yes , you heard right [ THREAD]pic.twitter.com/18YDRoWit1
— Richard Barrow ( @RichardBarrow)September 26 , 2020
The account of Barnes ’s feud with the haunt first came to the attending of the international world when the travel blogger Richard Barrowpostedabout it on Twitter over the weekend . Several outlets have since confirmed the account , and the Times describe that the holiday resort straight off found itself get review - bombed by users angered by the controversy . review postedon Googlein the last 24 hours impeach the resort of being “ absolutely disgusting ” and directly admonish travelers that criticism of the destination could leave in slammer fourth dimension .
The dependable news for Barnes is that the Streisand Effect is a hefty force and the holiday resort does seem open to play out a compromise . “ We just require to insure that these false follow-up are stopped , and we had no path of negotiating the matter with the node until after our file the complaint with authorisation , ” a interpreter told the Times .
Last year , Suchanee Cloitre , a television journalist , was convicted of libel in Thailand after she reported on migrant doer ’s accusations of inhumane working conditions at the Thammakaset chicken farm . She was in the end sentenced to the maximum of two years in prison house . talk withReuters , the newsman said that she was “ appalled ” and “ did not conceive the conviction would be so harsh . ”
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