Academics are urging opponents to tone down the use of hate speech amid the deepening political divide, while also singling out the media for complicity in reproducing hate messages.
The call was made during a seminar entitled "Freedom Comes With Responsibility. Stop Hate Speech" held yesterday by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) to mark World Press Freedom Day, which falls today.
Internet and IT law expert Paiboon Amornpinyokiart said there are now more than 10,000 defamation cases being investigated and tried nationwide.
Many defamatory comments were made online through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The use of hateful words against others through social networking sites has risen dramatically as internet users believe they have freedom of expression, Mr Paiboon said.
In other countries, laws have been enacted to specifically deal with the use of words that provoke conflict or the expression of views that threaten national security, he added.
"Many internet users believe if they set up accounts on social media sites and access them incognito, authorities cannot trace them," Mr Paiboon said.
"This belief is mistaken, as all accounts on social media sites can be examined. However, because there are only a small number of IT experts in the country, efforts to bring IT violators to task are hampered as law enforcement capability is limited."
Pipope Panitchapakdi, an independent media commentator, said hate speech is not only limited to politics. Sometimes, hateful words may be spoken or written to attack people based on their race or ethnicity, he said. Hate speech may also be associated with doctored pictures that make some people look evil.
The media should filter hate speech out of their reports, concealing it by using polite words if necessary, he said.
Human Rights Watch activist Sunai Phasuk said the media must admit to being at least partially to blame for spreading political discourse which leads to social divisions.
Some words were used to dehumanise people, such as "buffaloes" and "cockroaches", he said.
The word "rubbish" now carried a negative reference to a certain group of people who some claim should be "swept clean", Mr Sunai said.
TJA president Pradit Ruangdit said the media would launch a campaign to raise public awareness about hate speech.
On World Press Freedom Day, the TJA and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA) are urging people to be more careful in forwarding messages or images that may lead to hatred or increased violence.
The two key media bodies urged all media outlets to realise the responsibility that comes with freedom and said the use of words or images that may lead to hatred must be avoided.
They urged all conflicting parties to refrain from spreading hate speech through media channels, and called on internet users to screen information more thoroughly.
The TJA and the TBJA also called on agencies and regulatory bodies concerned to perform their duties without bias in supervising the operations and regulating the ethics of media outlets.