Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing YouTubers in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on our channel quoting directly: "Do you think the YouTubers working here without a permit are going to be targeted? I noticed many think putting their channels under their GF, (I presume girlfriend) or wife's name while still actively being involved in the content will protect them. Seems like form over substance and won't fly. What is your opinion on this?" Well I think I made it pretty in a lot of prior videos that YouTubing is work; it meets the definition of work. I think it's taxable; I think it's only a matter of time before authorities are aware of this. In fact, I have some reason to believe that they are already very much aware of this and they are looking at it deeply.

That comment alone is not enough to warrant this video. The reason I am making this and I have been accused and burned in a bunch of comments recently for being a scaremonger and just to promote this, our company, our firm. Look I mean if the channel isn't obviously promotional, I don't know what is. I mean I have never really hidden the fact that there's a promotional component. That said we are not monetized; I do this for free and have been doing it for free for 7 years. Oftentimes I think maybe at cost to myself in certain circumstances so I don't really appreciate the whole scaremongering thing. Also, not really my point. As we have discussed, I got called a scaremonger when I said the Retirement Visa Income Affidavit was coming to an end. People said "oh he is scaremongering, that's not going to happen". It happened and I was doing it to warn people; when I said "hey watch out for work authorization stuff" and then crackdowns came, I was doing it to warn people; when I said "hey watch out on Bank balances associated with Retirement Visas", I was doing it to warn people going back into 2018. This is also a warning. I have done other videos contemporaneously with this one where I discussed the issue of land ownership in Thailand via corporations which again as we have discussed, you have got to be very, very careful with. I am not making those videos to scaremonger, I am making it because it's a problem and you can get caught up in this and it can become a real problem. 

That being said, more to the point I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Phuket News , that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: DSI raids Phuket accountants over Bt440 million in nominee companies. Quoting directly: "The Department of Special Investigation has raided a legal accounting firm based in Chalong that is now under investigation for involvement in facilitating nearly 70 foreigners illegally operating companies with holdings worth an estimated total of Bt440 million." Then you get even deeper in over here to this, quoting further: "He said the practice of using nominee shareholders was illegal under the Foreign Business Act and brought "much economic harm to the country". He being Police Major Suriya Singhakamol who appears to be the DSI Director who initiated the raid. Bear in mind, DSI, that is a nationwide deal. So, maybe this is kind of Phuket-centric, maybe not. Hard to say. Quoting further: "Accordingly from the evidence found and as a result of previous investigations, we have found that the law firm set up almost 100 companies for foreigners of which about 44 companies are related to land," and they go on to say: "In total, 44 real estate companies, 8 tourism companies and 14 other service companies were under investigation." That pertains to my mind, to restricted occupations in Thailand so the underlying "work" being the issue as well as land being the issue. 

The reason I bring this up for YouTubers is again, it may not be 100% analogous although I think it is pretty darn close, to the issue of YouTubers especially YouTubers just working without Work Permits at all or working on Retirement Visas via YouTube and yes YouTubing, I have done the videos on this many times, YouTubing clearly falls within the definition of work in Thailand as the definition of work in Thailand is quite broad. The point I am trying to make is, as discussed in other videos directly on that article, as I discussed in the video I did about land holding companies where you will see foreigners run around and say "oh yeah, no problem. You can own land in Thailand, just set up a company." No, as I have discussed many times exactly as what happened here, law enforcement catches wind of this stuff, they investigate; people that own land in any of these companies are in a really bad position now. There is a very good chance they will dissolve the company and take the land if they don't assess other penalties individually associated with those involved in the company. Again, what's that got to do with YouTubers directly? It's the same phenomenon I guess is what I am saying. I am sitting here telling people hey there is a way to do it legally, there's a way to do it right where you get work authorized and yeah YouTubing can be part of your work here in Thailand, that's fine, but what I'm saying is where you just sort of brush it all off and say "ahh, it's no big deal, I am not going to get caught, whatever," yeah that was probably what a lot of folks in this Phuket News article were thinking when they were dealing with this stuff pertaining to these holding companies and things or engaging in restricted occupations, again like real estate, again like tourism operation, they were probably saying the same thing to themselves, "Oh it's no big deal, I'm all right Jack", as they say until you're not, that's my point. This isn't scaremongering. It doesn't matter, do what you want, it doesn't matter one way or another to me on a personal level. What I'm making this video for is to warn if nothing else that hey yes the law has a tendency to look backwards, that's something that lawyers often say, you'll hear judges say that too. The Law looks backwards, it's not a forward thinking, but it's not a forward-thinking operation because you have to make Law and then apply it so it does have kind of retroactive practical implication and I suspect that is was going on here. Law enforcement just hasn't caught up yet with the phenomenon of YouTube and whatnot.

That said, uniquely to YouTube and this is something YouTubers need to be keenly aware of, there's undisputable evidence of working illegally, should an investigator come down the line and want to try to prove it. If you sort of fall into the crosshairs, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion if you are working illegally because they can look at the timing of work authorization -  did you have it?  and then they can look at the time stamp on the YouTube video's publication. If those two things don't match up, well that's pretty much proof in fact, I mean prima facie proof that you were working illegally, you recorded it in fact. So again not here to scaremonger the YouTubers, not my point. My point is I want to see more of you; I want to see you out there doing your thing. Again, travel blogging, that's a totally different deal. If you come into Thailand, you're here for a couple of days and video yourself on a beach or whatever and it goes viral, great have at it. That is not what we are talking about. We are talking and folks here know who they are that I am sort of speaking this to. True YouTubers, Thailand YouTubers that are operating without work authorization and they are trying to play clever little games, that's not going to work. Putting something in somebody else's name, like noted in the comment - wife's name, girlfriend's name, you are on film. I don't know how to make that any more clear and if you don't have work authorization and it is pretty clear you are working, if something comes down unlike even in this Phuket News article where there is probably going to be an adjudication and they have to go in and analyze what was the intent behind setting all this up, it is not going to be that complicated. It is basically going to be saying "well were you work authorized on the date of this video's publication/ If so, well okay maybe you are all right. If not, it is pretty clear and there's undisputable evidence - you are filmed doing it. So again, it is not my point to scaremonger, it is my point to earnestly warn people because as this Phuket News article shows, if you become complacent and you just think "ahh, it's all right, mai pen aai, everything in Thailand will just be hunky dory" - yeah it is ‘til it's not.