Thailand Banned Taking 'Underboob Selfies’ and Threatened With Five Years in Jail TO Offenders

Inspiration: Celebrities such as Cara Delevingne (left) and Suki Waterhouse (right) have previously posted so-called 'underboob selfies' online

Thailand's government has warned women they face up to five years in prison for taking so-called 'underboob selfies' after the trend swept social media.

The practice of photographing the lower half of one's breasts and posting the images online has become an increasingly popular pastime in the south east Asian country.

But Thailand's military government today said it would be willing to prosecute anybody posting underboob selfies online, claiming the practice is 'inappropriate' and will lead to prosecutions under the country's strict computer crime laws.



Banned: The practice of photographing the lower half of one's breasts and posting the images online has become an increasingly popular pastime in the south east Asian country

Thailand's 2007 Computer Crimes Act bans any material that causes 'damage to the country's security or causes public panic' or 'any obscene computer data which is accessible to the public'.

The culture ministry said offenders faced up to five years in jail, but did not say how they would identify the culprits.

'When people take these 'underboob selfies' no one can see their faces,' ministry spokesman Anandha Chouchoti told Reuters. 

'So it's like, we don't know who these belong to, and it encourages others to do the same.
'We can only warn people to not take it up. They are inappropriate actions.' 

The ministry has long been criticized for being overzealous in its censorship of films, music, television and some Western cultural practices in an attempt to preserve traditional values of a country that is also infamous of its raunchy night life.

News of the underboob selfie warning comes as four Thai activists are to face military court on charges of violating junta orders banning public gatherings in what a rights group called a 'landmark case' that could stir indignation at strict military rule.
The four men are members of a group called Resistant Citizen, which has held demonstrations around the Thai capital in defiance of the government which came to power after a coup in May.
The men were released by a military court in Bangkok today following police interrogation.
Prosecutors asked them to report on March 27 to decide whether to press charges against the four.
'It is a landmark case. Hundreds have been sent to military court since the coup but this case is an outright persecution of peaceful expression of dissent,' said Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch.

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