Thailand vows to restrict more ‘illegal’ content on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, other sites

Thailand has seen ongoing pro-democracy protests calling for reforms of the monarchy and Prayuth Chan-ocha’s government

Facebook plans to fight an order to shut down a group with a million members as officials target 1,000 online posts under the Computer Crimes Act

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Thailand's Minister of Digital Economy and Society Puttipong Punnakanta briefs the media about the country’s move to order Facebook to block a group, and plans to block more online content. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:00pm, 26 Aug 2020Updated: 5:58pm, 15 Oct 2020

Thailand has vowed no relent in its crackdown on social media content deemed illegal and is pushing for the removal of 1,000 online posts, videos and other content that “break the law”, officials said on Wednesday, after Facebook vowed legal action over the censorship of a group discussing the monarchy.

Youth-led pro-democracy protests have swept Thailand in recent weeks, calling for political reform and frank discussion about the powerful king’s role in the country – long a taboo subject.

A private Facebook group called “Royalist Marketplace” had more than a million members posting about the royal family before it was blocked in Thailand on Monday.

The social media giant said it was “compelled” by the government to block the group, and is preparing to mount a legal challenge against the move.

We’re not bullies. We use Thai laws to protect Thai cyber sovereignty.

Minister Puttipong Punnakanta

But the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society now wants to obtain court removal orders relating to 1,024 more URLs on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and five other sites, minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta told reporters.