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In the forefront of the latest coup, the Thai junta seized TV and radio services to air patriotic hymns. On their Facebook page, public demand Justin Timberlake play instead.
Following widespread demand on their Facebook page, now a page with over 300,000 likes, the coup leaders known as the National Peace and Order Maintaining Council, were recently forced to restore regular programming.
Initially, all TV and radio broadcasts consisted of sporadic updates of the coup interspersed with patriotic hymns. This immediately led to hundreds of Facebook comments urging coup leaders to play Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson and Oscar-winning hit single "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen.
"Since you're reforming politics, you might as well reform your music" one of the commenters said, with others pleading for some more uplifting music choices as well as threats of taking action against historical rival Myanmar unless the junta play other songs. Another commenter facetiously requested a "best of" CD to commemorate the coup.
Similarly, concerned parents across the country asked for the return of children's programming on TV. Authorities declined comment on the extensive Facebook feedback.
The Facebook page was originally created to post updates on the coup, much like the TV and radio broadcasts, but soon devolved into a forum of complaints and local chatter, providing an amusing side story to the violent ongoing conflict, which has started to provoke violent demonstrations.
Though the page has as of Monday a total of 300,000 likes, that is also considered a relatively small amount compared to the total of 7.1 billion likes annually awarded by Thais, a people widely known to be highly loyal Facebook users. The page has been receiving increasing negative comments and obscene imagery posted by those in opposition of the coup.
Army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, spearheaded the coup, following weeks of civil unrest. Martial law was officially declared on Tuesday with the military junta announcing their intent to overthrow the government the following Thursday.
The result has been strict censorship of traditional media outlets with only a few newspapers allowed to publish negative comments on the conflict and online streaming services forcibly shut down and the responsible parties detained.
However, social media has remained completely uncensored, with Facebook users, bloggers and Twitter users freely posting content under hashtags such as #thaicoup. The reasons for which is believed to be an attempt to retain favour with the Thai people, known to be highly active on social networking sites.
This attempt to curry favour may be something which has backfired on the junta as protests online are becoming widespread.
Coup leaders threatened local internet service providers as a result, that if they do not monitor and block and dissemination of "information which is distorted" their services would be suspended.
Many reported have now been ordered to turn themselves in to the military. Outspoken columnist Pravit Rojanaphruk recently tweeted upon being summoned "On my way to see the new dictator of Thailand. Hopefully the last."
This is the second coup Thailand has faced in only 8 years and the 12th since the end of monarchy in 1932 and is reported to have incited more anger and tension than any of the previous ones.
