Thailand
Thai officials crackdown on “lèse majesté” social media pages and posts
In a crackdown on social media posts critical of the Thai Monarchy, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society says they plan to pursue legal action against Facebook and Twitter for failing to remove content that violates the country’s draconian lèse majesté law.
Social media users who make insulting posts about the Thai Monarchy can also be charged. So far, the ministry has identified 9 people they say are responsible for content shared online that violates Thailand’s laws.
Over the past year, numerous activists and protest leaders involved in the pro-democracy movement have been arrested for allegedly violating lèse majesté law, Section 112 of Thailand’s Criminals Code. Under the law, those who insult or defame the Thai Monarchy face 3 to 15 years in prison.
Pro-democracy activists have been calling on government and monarchy reform, bringing up subjects and questions considered taboo and unprecedented in Thai society.
Many activists use Facebook and Twitter to share information about protests as well as their views on social and political issues. The ministry says they found 5,494 Facebook pages and 2,949 Twitter pages that “harbour illegal content.”
Facebook removed the 3,107 links. Twitter refused to remove 611 links, according to the Bangkok Post. Considering not all the pages in question were removed, the DES minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta says the ministry plans to take legal action on the social media sites for hosting material in Thailand’s domain that are said to violate the lèse majesté law.
From October to December, the DES also found 638 URLS that allegedly violated Thailand’s Computer Crime Act, which has been used to prosecute lèse majesté cases. Most of the links traced back to 26 internet accounts, according to Buddhipongse.
“We have identified nine individuals who are owners of these accounts. They are not new faces and have been charged with similar offences many times before.”
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Issan John
Wednesday, January 6, 2021 at 11:04 am
Hardly in line with the King’s wishes, or his father’s.
Roger
Wednesday, January 6, 2021 at 5:02 pm
For God sake, Thailand grow up
preesy chepuce
Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 12:18 am
What possible jurisdiction can they take legal action in?! Is this just a futile gesture for a local audience?!
Mr cynic
Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 8:26 am
Well it’s not as if there’s much else going on at the moment that needs dealing with really is it.
babble
Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 8:48 am
have a look also on tiktok… last day i saw a farang mocking the king for not wearing a mask during a public gathering. mai dee