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Facebook stays with Thai mall gunman Jakrapanth Thomma hours into deadly rampage

The soldier who massacred at least 26 people was able to post photos and videos for five hours.

The soldier who massacred at least 26 people in Thailand was able to post photographs and videos from the scene to his Facebook page for almost five hours, prompting fresh scrutiny of the social media giant’s response to the use of its platform by mass murderers.

Facebook, which copped widespread criticism after Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant used it to live-stream the massacre of 51 people at two New Zealand mosques, had pledged to overhaul the way it responded to such incidents. Initial reports said it was Thai authorities that alerted Facebook to posts midway through the 17-hour crisis and requested it to remove the gunman’s profile, although Facebook has since said it first became aware of the attack through its internal channels.

Thai soldier Jakrapanth Thomma began his rampage at 3.30pm on Saturday when he killed his commanding officer, Anantharot Krasae, and Colonel Anantharot’s mother-in-law. He then arrived at the Terminal 21 shopping centre in Nakhon Ratchasima, about 250km northeast of Bangkok, at 6pm and started shooting indiscriminately at people in and around the mall.

Sergeant Major Jakrapanth — who was eventually shot dead on Sunday — made posts to his Facebook page during the attack, including a short video of himself to Facebook’s FBLive live-streaming platform.

Jakrapanth Thomma.
Jakrapanth Thomma.

In the video, he can be seen wearing his army helmet and holding a rifle, describing how he was tired and could barely move his fingers.

During the attack, he posted “Death is inevitable for everyone” to his Facebook page and later asked “Should I give up?”

Earlier, he had posted an image of a handgun and three sets of bullets, along with the words “it is time to get excited”.

The BBC initially reported that the Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society had contacted Facebook and asked it to close down Jakrapanth’s profile by almost 11pm that night.

A spokeswoman for Facebook initially did not confirm just how long the live-stream video was active on its site or whether Thai authorities alerted the company to the events when first contacted by The Australian on Sunday, but late Sunday night disputed the timeline of events and said it had removed Jakrapanth’s Facebook and Instagram accounts hours before it was contacted the Thai authorities.

Copies of the short video filmed by Jakrapanth during the massacre were still widely available on Sunday night through rival social media platform Twitter.

The Facebook spokeswoman said the video posted by Jakrapanth did not depict any violence.

“We have removed the gunman’s presence on our services and have found no evidence that he broadcasted this violence on FBLive,” the spokeswoman said.

“We are working around the clock to remove any violating content related to this attack.”

People who were able to get out of Terminal 21 Korat mall are escorted outside by armed commando soldiers in Nakhon Ratchasima. Picture: AP
People who were able to get out of Terminal 21 Korat mall are escorted outside by armed commando soldiers in Nakhon Ratchasima. Picture: AP

Facebook has built a team of 15,000 people tasked with reviewing content on its site in more than 50 languages, although it is heavily reliant on users to report inappropriate content.

The social media giant has developed protocols for dealing with mass murders under its “dangerous individuals and organisations policy”.

Under that policy, the company will remove any content it becomes aware of that involves praising, supporting or representing a shooting or the shooter.

Tama Leaver, an associate professor of internet studies at Curtin University, said while Facebook and its algorithms had shown improvement in their response, it would always be “incredibly hard” to police live-streaming.

“A number of communications came through that platform during the shooting so it’s very clear that the shooter is conscious of the performative nature of what they’re doing.

“That’s one of the real downsides of social media and this form of violence, that people do it to be seen — not just to kill, but to be seen to kill,” he said.

“That’s one of the really tricky things for any live-streaming platform; they are at the end of the day giving a platform of amplification to a form of violence that should not be amplified.”

The Christchurch massacre in March 2019 was the catalyst for the introduction of tough new laws in Australia aimed at holding social media companies accountable for the sharing of violent content.

The Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material Act requires social media platforms and other websites to swiftly remove abhorrent violent material and refer it to the Australian Federal Police.

Companies face penalties of up to 10 per cent of their turnover and their employees face up to three years in jail under the act.

Numerous other incidents of murder, rape and suicide have been live-streamed through the site since the FBLive feature was unveiled in 2016.

A photo circulated on social media that appeared to be taken from the Facebook page shows Jakrapanth wearing a green camouflaged military helmet while a fireball and black smoke rage behind him. His profile picture shows him in a mask and dressed in ­military-style fatigues and armed with a pistol.

The background image is of a handgun and bullets.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-Cha said “this incident was unprecedented in Thailand”.

“I hope this is the only one and the last incident, and that it never happens again. No one wants this to happen. It could be because of this person’s mental health in this particular moment,” Mr Prayuth said after visiting the wounded.

The incident in Korat comes just a month after another high-profile mall shooting, in the central Thai city of Lopburi. In that case, a masked man carrying a handgun with a silencer killed three people, including a two-year-old boy, and wounded four others as he robbed a jewellery store. A school director was arrested less than two weeks later and reportedly confessed, saying he did not mean to shoot anyone.

Read related topics:Big Tech
Paul Garvey
Paul GarveySenior Reporter

Paul Garvey is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades' experience in newsrooms around Australia and the world. He is currently the senior reporter in The Australian’s WA bureau, covering politics, courts, billionaires and everything in between. He has previously written for The Wall Street Journal in New York, The Australian Financial Review in Melbourne, and for The Australian from Hong Kong before returning to his native Perth. He was the WA Journalist of the Year in 2024 and is a two-time winner of The Beck Prize for political journalism.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/facebook-stays-with-thai-mall-gunman-jakrapanth-thomma-hours-into-deadly-rampage/news-story/6321aaec5400c34317b534c5613646fa