The Thai army has boycotted online retailer Lazada over an ad the government is investigating for allegedly offending the country’s royal family.
The move will ban 245,000 members of the Thai military from using the e-commerce giant’s websites for official purposes.
Thailand has strict laws against slandering, insulting or threatening senior members of the royal family.
Based in Singapore, Lazada is one of the largest online retailers in Southeast Asia.
The announcement comes after citizens loyal to the king complained about a TikTok video promoting a May 5 Lazada sale.
Royalists said the ad, which showed a woman in a wheelchair, mocked King Vajiralongkorn’s younger sister, Princess Chulabhorn, who uses a wheelchair due to lupus, an autoimmune disease.
The video was “offensive to the monarchy” and “causes disunity in Thai society,” Thai army spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong said in a statement.
“The Army now has a policy that prohibits all Army units and Army-related activities from ordering goods from the Lazada platform or delivering things from Lazada,” she added.
Thailand’s Digital Economy Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn told reporters that the government is considering legal action against the influencer and the ad agency responsible for the video, as well as Lazada.
Under Thailand’s lèse-majesté law, courts can impose prison sentences of up to 15 years for any offense of defaming, insulting or threatening King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the Queen, her heir or regent.
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Lazada, the Southeast Asian unit of Chinese online retailer Alibaba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.
The company previously apologized for the “emotional damage” caused by the video and said it should have been more careful.
At least half a dozen companies in Thailand, including some operated by the palace, have stopped using Lazada over the video, according to Reuters news agency.
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