The Rubbish Collection Organization (RCO; th, องค์กรเก็บขยะแผ่นดิน; ) is a Thai state-sponsored online

ultra-royalist The Ultra-royalists (french: ultraroyalistes, collectively Ultras) were a French political faction from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration. An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who strongly supported Roman Catho ...

vigilante group that has been characterized as fascist. Headed by Rienthong Nanna, an ultra-royalist former major general, medical doctor, and special advisor to the Prime Minister, it was founded during the

2013–2014 Thai political crisis The 2013–2014 Thai political crisis was a period of political instability in Thailand. Anti-government protests took place between November 2013 and May 2014, organised by the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), a political pressur ...

, on the side of the

People's Democratic Reform Committee The People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) or People's Committee for Absolute Democracy with the King as Head of State (PCAD) was a reactionary umbrella political pressure group in Thailand. Its aim was to remove the influence of former p ...

, and as of July 2019 had 300,000 likes on its Facebook page. The RCO is organized along professional military-style lines and engages in mob activism. Its stated aim is to 'eradicate' Thailand's “social rubbish” and to “eradicate lèse-majesté offenders completely.” The RCO seeks out potential cases of lèse majesté and reports them to the authorities. In addition, it perpetrates systematic mobbing, seeking to disclose a victim’s private address (

doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...

) and then inciting pro-royalists to verbally abuse the victim at their home or work. The RCO has adopted civic volunteerism and publicizes state-organized mass events, such as royalist bicycle rallies, through social media.

Origins

The RCO came into operations in April 2014, one month before the 2014 military coup, allegedly on the orders of then Privy Councilor Lt. Gen.

Surayud Chulanont Surayud Chulanont ( th, สุรยุทธ์ จุลานนท์, , ; born 28 August 1943) is a Thai politician. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and head of Thailand's interim government between 2006 and 2008. He is a former su ...

, who headed one of the military governments following the 2006 coup. Rienthong was gradually introduced to the public as a supposedly apolitical disaffected citizen (wutbürger). Rienthong claimed that he was working to establish a “people’s army to protect the monarchy”and that the RCO was protected by the army, which it promptly denied. The RCO adopted various fascist era-style slogans, including “When you first sweep the floor, the dust will be blown all over the place – but later the floor will look cleaner”. The RCO has received funding from the Thai military.

Founder

Rienthong Nanna, who still uses his military title (major general), was a former operations director of the Army Medical Department and is director of his own private hospital, Mongkutwattana Hospital, in central Bangkok, from where he oversees the RCO. Rienthong has announced a policy to vet the social media accounts of suppliers to his hospital for loyalty to the monarchy before buying their services and also to vet the social media accounts of his patients, vowing not to treat those who may appear to be disloyal to the monarchy, despite the hospital being part of the Thai public health system. In January 2019, a case was filed to revoke Rienthong’s medical license on the grounds of "discrimination, verbal abuses, and posting inappropriate statements on Facebook". In July 2020, he was appointed special advisor to the Prime Minister with a brief of reducing the socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19.

Tactics

The RCO engages in doxing, the practice of investigating and making public online identities, then reports these to the authorities. Tactics have also included intimidation, by posting photos of the October 1976 Thammasat University massacre, and posting nude or otherwise offensive photos to victims' Facebook pages, followed by allegations that the page owner had in this way committed

cybercrimes A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing th ...

. The RCO has also mobbed victims house and places of work. One of the early targets of the RCO was Kamol Duangphasuk, who was subsequently assassinated. The RCO also targets victims in person overseas at their home addresses and victims' families, with one victim’s parents being "forced to file a lèse-majesté case against their own daughter".^:30

Main campaigns

2015 campaign

After the 2014 Thai military coup, there was a resurgence in state-sponsored online crackdowns and vigilante activity targeting anti-regime protesters, including by the RCO. In January 2015, the RCO targeted the

United Nations High Commission for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

after it assisted an activist accused of lèse majesté to flee to New Zealand. In late September, 2015, the RCO targeted Sunai Phasuk, a researcher for

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

. In October 2015, the RCO targeted the US Embassy in Bangkok, delivering a statement to President Obama, asking him to repatriate lèse majesté who had fled overseas, including to the United Kingdom. Later the same month, the RCO directly targeted

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

and

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for carrying content it deemed as causing lèse-majesté. In late 2015 Rienthong temporarily withdrew from the RCO.

2016 campaign

In 2016, the RCO was active in seeking out Thais who did not dress in mourning wear following the death of Thai king

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej ( th, ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช; ; ; ( Sanskrit: ''bhūmi·bala atulya·teja'' - "might of the land, unparalleled brilliance"); 5 December 192713 October 2016), conferred with the title King Bhumibol the Grea ...

2020 campaign

In July 2020, the RCO became a protagonist in the 2020 Thai protests, targeting the student protesters. It launched its “Extinguish the Future Project”, which aims “to create a list of individuals which companies, government agencies, and educational institutions must ban from being employed, enrolling for study or receiving scholarships.” RCO supporters were ordered to infiltrate the protesters, discover their identities, and then engage in a mass campaign of publicly discrediting them. The campaign provoked a massive reaction on Thai social media, including from Thai stars like

Intira Jaroenpura Intira Charoenpura ( th, อินทิรา เจริญปุระ; ), also known by the nickname Sai or Sine ( th, ทราย; born December 23, 1980

, and even from some conservatives. During the protests, Rienthong fired one of his doctors for signing a petition requesting authorities to not use violence against demonstrators.{{Cite web, date=2020-10-18, title=Doctor sacked for opposing govt's dispersal of protesters, url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2004067/doctor-sacked-for-opposing-govts-dispersal-of-protesters, access-date=2020-10-18, website=Bangkok Post