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BANGKOK: An American has been sued by an island resort in Thailand over a negative Tripadvisor review, authorities said on Saturday (September 26), and could face up to two years in prison if convicted.
Domestic tourism continues to occur in Thailand, where the number of COVID-19 cases is relatively low, with locals and expats heading to nearly empty resorts, including Koh Chang Island, famous for its sandy beaches and turquoise waters. .
READ: Thailand will allow long-stay tourists on Phuket Island from October
But a recent visit to the Sea View Resort on the island put Wesley Barnes in trouble after he wrote unflattering reviews online about his vacation.
“The owner of Sea View Resort filed a complaint that the defendant had posted unfair reviews of his hotel on the Tripadvisor website,” Koh Chang Police Colonel Thanapon Taemsara told AFP.
He said Barnes was charged with causing “damage to the hotel’s reputation” and fighting with staff for failing to pay a corkage fee for alcohol brought into the hotel.
Barnes, who works in Thailand, was arrested by immigration police and returned to Koh Chang, where he was briefly detained and later released on bail.
According to the Tripadvisor review Barnes posted in July, he encountered “unfriendly staff” who “acted like they didn’t want anyone here.”
The Sea View Resort said legal action was only taken because Barnes had written multiple reviews on different sites over the past few weeks.
At least one was posted on Tripadvisor in June accusing the hotel of “modern slavery,” which the site removed after a week for violating its guidelines.
“We chose to file a complaint to serve as a deterrent as we understand that you may continue to write negative reviews week after week for the foreseeable future,” the hotel said, adding that staff had attempted to contact Barnes prior to filing the complaint.
Barnes did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Thailand’s notorious anti-defamation laws have long drawn scrutiny from human rights and press freedom groups, who say powerful players use them as a weapon to suppress free speech.
The maximum sentence is two years in prison, along with a fine of 200,000 baht (6,300 US dollars).
Earlier this year, a Thai journalist was sentenced to two years in prison for posting a tweet referring to a dispute over working conditions at a chicken farm owned by the Thammakaset company.
