Welcome to Thailand, where a negative TripAdvisor review can get you jailed

 If TripAdvisor has taught us anything in its 20 years, it is that the customer is not always right. But by creating a digital ecosystem wherein the opinions of the hoi polloi are solicited, and therefore substantiated, the popular online travel platform has handed the average traveller untold power.

South China Morning Post

Not in Thailand, though, where a lone-star reviewer faces up to two years in prison for having left poor appraisals of a Koh Chang hotel. On September 26, Agence France-Presse reported that American expat Wesley Barnes was being sued by the Sea View Resort "after he wrote unflatter-ing online reviews about his holiday".

Barnes spent one fateful night at the cliffside property in June. In his words, tweeted by Richard Barrow (of 2Price Thailand fame): "The visit started bad." Spoiler: it didn't end much better.