Cases of Defamation are commonly defined according to Thailand law as follows: "to impute anything to another person to a third party in a manner likely to impair that person's reputation or to expose such person to hatred or contempt."
Incidents of defamation usually occur in a business context and can result from a business dispute. However, defamation may also occur in a political dispute or in the course of a commercial or non-commercial presentation to the public. In Thailand, unlike many Western jurisdictions, defamation may be both a criminal offense and/or a civil offense.
There are a number of exceptions to Thailand defamation law and the following situations are generally not considered to be defamation:
Whoever in good faith, expresses any opinion or statement in the following contexts shall not be guilty of defamation:
- by way of justification or defense, or for the protection of a legitimate interest.
- in the status of being an official in the exercise of his functions
- by way of fair comment on any person or thing subjected to public criticism
- by way of fair report of the open proceedings of any Court or meeting
Written Defamation vs. Oral Defamation
When the defamatory statement is recorded by way of a document, audio or visual recording, the offense is considered more severe. In I cases where the defamatory statement exist in electronic form, such as on a website, the case may be prosecuted under basic defamation law, and, potentially, under special legislation related to Internet and electronic communication.